Get HM Parliament to debate hedgehogs and do something useful for our declining wildlife for a change!! Sign the petition please, see below.
2 young Hedgehogs feeding in my wildllife garden
Government response to the petition I signed:
Give the hedgehog better legal protection in order to reverse its decline.
We support measures to help hedgehogs. We do not believe it is appropriate to list hedgehogs as a protected species, which is best reserved for species deliberately killed or injured by humans.
The Government is concerned about the decline of the hedgehog. Whilst the reasons for the decline in numbers of this emblematic species are complex, we support efforts to make our gardens more hedgehog friendly and more friendly to wildlife generally and pollinators specifically.
To encourage the involvement of local communities we recently published advice for homeowners in the form of five simple steps to make gardens more hedgehog friendly. This advice can be accessed here
We are impressed by the good work of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species in undertaking surveys to establish the facts and engaging the public, and support the majority of their 10 year strategy for the protection of hedgehogs. The Taxon Group, which is being led by Natural England, is also proposing a number of actions that address some of the objectives of the 10 year Strategy.
Hedgehogs are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed using prohibited methods such as a crossbows, traps and snares. However, further protection of hedgehogs by adding them to Schedule 5 will not support the species and may have unintended consequences because:
Since 2010 we have overseen work to create and restore over 100,000 hectares of priority habitat. Frontline programmes such as our agri-environment schemes have already restored or planted 30,000 kilometres of hedgerows.
The new £900 million Countryside Stewardship scheme which started this year will further add to this valuable work by helping farmers, foresters and other land managers play a pivotal role in protection our wildlife and the countryside in general. In addition, the hedgerows and boundaries capital grants (part of Countryside Stewardship) announced on 1 February will also have a valuable part to play.
We are developing an ambitious 25 Year plan to protect and enhance our environment. It will move us to a more integrated and effective approach to managing our environment, placing local people and places at the heart of environmental decision making. This new approach will help equip people with the knowledge and power they need to take effective action on local environmental priorities, helping reverse the decline of iconic species like hedgehogs as part of this joined up approach.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Click this link to view the response online and sign.
The Petitions Committee will take a look at this petition and its response. They can press the government for action and gather evidence. If this petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the Committee will consider it for a debate.
The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee
Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament
see Film of hedgehogs safe inside my hedgehog feeding station
The Government advice doesn’t include holes to be in fences.
Many people may plant hedgehog friendly hedges with a big solid fence stopping them from accessing the garden.
I presume some influential person preferably representing hedgehogs will tell them that?
Steve, as you will know there is a paucity of common sense advice from MPs and their departments!Cheers, George
Yes. I saved a very young hog. Firstly he got stuck in a dry watering can. Then, poor thing he was drowning in a bucket of water. I got him out. I bought him a proper plywood Hedgie home, filled it with straw . Fed Hedgie , Butchers Meatloaf, chicken and tripe. He loved it. ( I tried him on dried Hedgehog food……he did`t like it!) it was probably October when I saved him and he was tiny. I knew he had to clap on the weight. in the end he was going through on third of a large tin.
He hibernated and survived! I was so pleased! Since coming out of hibernation he has been eating Go Cat chicken and duck dried food (better for his teeth, etc) he is absolutely thriving. I tried mixing “The Right Food For Hedgehogs”, but he would leave them!
What a great story with a happy ending! Thanks for sharing that Cheers, George
ice got a returning hedgehog this week and he’s brought a mate with him. feeding them dry cat biscuits and water thryve been for last 4 nights now. even bought them a hedgehog house so fingers crossed they’ll use it.
Nice one Carol. How exciting! Thanks for sharing. George
a hedgehog arrived in the almost totally enclosed garden and I started feeding it 1/2 tin cat food per night + water. Next step was a hedgehog house which he used.
His night-time routine seems to be have a forage around for 15 minutes or so, have a doze for an hour and a half, another forage, another doze through the night from about half an hour after sunset until about half an hour before dawn.
For the third morning in a row he woke up between 09:30 and 10:00 and wandered over to use the corner of the garden as a toilet. yesterday I came home and checked the video and have recorded it tightly curled up in a ball being attacked by a seagull – until it was finally dragged out of camera shot.
Now the hedgehog house is empty and for the last couple of nights the cat food remains untouched.
……. and seagulls are protected!
DID THE SEAGUL MANAGE TO INJURE THE HOG PHILIP?
I don’t know if the hedgehog was injured – it has gone and hasn’t been back. Perhaps it decided my garden was not the best place to live, perhaps it was killed/carried off by the gull (could a gull carry a hog?)
For almost 8 years I had hedgehogs coming into my garden at night ( at any one time there were 7/8) . I bought 2 hedgehog houses and successfully had two hedgehogs producing 2 litters of 5 hoglets each. For years the hedgehogs hibernated in the houses too. Last year our new neighbour complained that the hedgehogs were destroying his Hosta plants and defecating on his lawn. I tried to explain that they would be eating the snails/ slugs off the plants and therefore protecting them. My neighbour has secretly but successfully erased every hedgehog from my garden. A total of 14 in 12 months ( Adults, Juveniles and babies). I am utterly heartbroken. I have confronted my neighbour several times who denies my allegations but always with a huge smirk.
Well, Sue, that’s a real shame. Sorry to hear that. George
Hedgehogs are deliberately killed by humans all over the managed grouse moors which I assume the Tories favour. It’s an absolute lie to suggest this is not the case and significantly undermines the government’s rather ineffectual statement.