Hedgehogs and native habitats protection

Info


Categories

Wilderness
Biodiversity

Background

Queen guitarist Brian May's Save Me Trust supports habitats for hedgehogs, one of the most vulnerable wild mammals in the UK.

Why did we choose this project?

This familiar, lovable native is under pressure from modern farming practices, the use of industrial and domestic pesticides, habitat destruction and restricted movement around their territory. This project focuses on helping where it's needed to make a real tangible difference to British hedgehogs today as well as longer-term research and education to protect them into the future.

How does it work?

Hedgehog highways are created allowing hedgehogs to move from garden to garden. This sounds simple, but most of us have impenetrable fences, which means hedgehogs cannot complete their usual circuit of up to a mile in search of perfect nutrition. Nesting and feeding boxes are also added. Any unwell hedgehogs arriving at the veterinary hospital are carefully monitored so we build a more detailed picture of the threats to our native mammals. The schools’ programme encourages children to transform their gardens into hedgehog safe zones.

How do we know it's working?

Hedgehog populations in the project locations are monitored before, during and after the project, so we can see the impact we're having on real hedgehog populations.

Star fact

In England there are approximately a milllion hedgehogs left - a 97% drop from the thirty million that roved the UK in the 1950's, with the decline of hedgerows, open fields without cover, and car deaths to blame. Alongside excess use of pesticides and global warming reducing their insect prey.


UN Sustainability Goals

04 Quality Education15 Life on Land

Verified by Pinwheel

28 Feb 2021

Location

England, UK

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