In the rush to save exotic species we sometimes ignore the animals closest to home.
Hog Hope is a lighthearted documentary film illustrating the tireless efforts and dedicated work of the South family.
Situated in a back garden in Newquay, Cornwall, this unique family have created Prickles and Paws Sanctuary, a safe haven for 75 of these prickly inhabitants in an attempt to save one of Britain’s most loved species.
10 years ago, Katy South received a rather unexpected present for her 18th birthday. She was given 2 Hoglets (baby hedgehogs) to finish hand raising. Little did she know what effect those rescues would have on her family, and the rest of her community.
Now Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Sanctuary, run by Martin, Diane and Katy South, is a registered charity, and has a maximum capacity for 75 hedgehogs. They have a number of trustees that help out, along with a small army of 50 volunteers.
Every morning, each hedgehog hutch is cleared and cleaned out, their dry food is replenished, and torn up newspaper is used to replace the bedding area of their hutches. The particulary sick are weighed, and injected with fluids before being placed back into a clean cage with a fresh bed of newspaper and bowl of food.
The hedgehogs with ringworm and skin related issues, along with the very sick hedgehogs in the intensive care incubators are kept inside the shed to ensure a higher chance of recovery.
Prickle loss is a common injury for hedgehogs due to the level of dog and badger attacks that occur. Cherry has been affected by ringworm, a fungal infection of the skin, which can cause prickle loss.
After just over a week however, her prickles were starting to grow back. Kate and Diane closely monitor prickle loss and growth to make sure they are recovering well.
Looking after 75 hedgehogs a day doesn’t come without it’s perks. All of the ‘Hogs have different characters which only makes them more adorable.
Kate holds Shiraz, above her head in order to check the condition of the skin on her face.
Naming as many as 75 hedgehogs can be a task in itself. Many themes have been used over the years in order to name and keep track of the hedgehogs, such as alcoholic drink names, Christmas, Harry Potter, and even the England rugby team.
Every day, newspaper has to be shredded up by hand in order to provide the right consistency of bedding for the Hedgehogs to snuggle under. This provides a never ending task for the volunteers, who work tirelessly to help the South family on a regular basis.
Arthur was brought in with a multitude of problems, including ringworm, a disease that becomes much worse when immunity is compromised. He also had a very high internal parasite burden, along with lung worm, intestinal worm and fluke (another type of parasitic worm). He has since improved in leaps and bounds and is well on the road to recovery.
Bath time doesn’t happen too often at the sanctuary. In this case, Mawgan (named after the place he was found, Mawgan Porth), had been exposed to a creosote type chemical, possibly from a garden fence. This is dangerous as the inhalation of the smell and the absorption of the chemical through the skin is toxic.
Here, Diane and Kate put Mawgan in a warm water bath and use a toothbrush to scrub the chemical from the prickles and the skin, before rinsing him off, giving him a towel rub, and putting him on a heat pad back in his hutch.
Hydrotherapy is a form of treatment used at the sanctuary on hedgehogs that have had leg related injuries, or need to lose weight. Believe it or not, hedgehogs are in fact very good swimmers! They swim regularly in the wild, across ponds or small streams, allowing them to have a larger habitat and reach more food when they need to.
This hydrotherapy session was for Merlot, who has a slightly twisted back foot, and needs to stretch her tendons to make sure they move properly. Being in a hutch for as long as Merlot means she has a reduced level of fitness, and so she was tired after just three minutes of swimming.
Curling up is a defense mechanism that hedgehogs use againsts predators. With their face and stomach safely hidden away, their prickles cover the rest of their body, preventing larger mammals from easily accessing those delicate areas.
However, the hedgehogs main predator in the UK is the badger, which has claws long enough to reach through to the skin. This natural instinct kicks in during treatment and handling every day. Fortunately, stroking the middle of their back can help them relax and uncurl, allowing for examination and medication to be administered.
Horace the Hedgehog mascot does his thing at a spring gatherering event at Nancarrow Farm.
These events are essential for raising awareness of the UK hedgehog population and the things we can all do to ensure their survival.
A hedgehog hut is placed underneath a bush in the South’s back garden. Any local hedgehogs that need to be released are placed in the hut, where they are free to stay for as long as they want before they venture back out into the wild.
Hedgehogs love dark, damp environments. As the summer months return, growing leaves on this bush will allow for more cover, and bring a variety of insects, which make up most of a hedgehogs’ diet. The bush will also hold more water, keeping their skin moist.
Harriet has been placed in the hedgehog house.
She needed to be released in the South’s back garden as that was where she was found. She was left with a bowl of food and some water, allowing her to leave when she wanted.
The night time camera trap captured her drinking before leaving at 11pm that night.
