Mum's

[stef]

I keep seeing posts about mum’s abandoning their hoglets if they are disturbed. This is possible, and I’m not saying it doesn’t happen.
However, in all the years I have been rehabing hogs I have alway’s known the mum to go straight back to the babies.
In one instance the babies were ‘rescued’ as the people thought mum had abandoned them and 2 day’s later they caught her and she went straight back and reared the babies in captivity in my care without any issue.

I think we need to be very careful about alarming people into ‘rescuing’ hoglets before a 24hr window has passed unless they know that mum is dead or unable to return, or the babies are at high risk.
It is better to advise monitoring from a distance.

I also keep hearing people are afraid to rescue a hog that’s exhibiting abnormal behaviour – ie out in the daytime, in case it’s a nursing mum. Far better to have a hog looked over and returned within a few hours, than a dead mum who cannot rear her young.

[Nic]

Good advice, Stef.

I know I sometimes say it’s best not to keep checking hog boxes because a mother might desert their young when they’re very young (information from Hedgehogs by Pat Morris). But that is to prevent the possibility (however slight) that the Mother might abandon her young in the first place and so that the poor hog can be left in peace to produce her young and then care for them.

But, by saying that, I am in no way suggesting that if a Mother did happen to leave her babies for a while that anyone should immediately jump in and “rescue” them. If a Mother hog did leave her young, common sense dictates that a reasonable time should be left to see if the Mother returned. But I suppose there will always be someone who interprets things other than how they are meant. So it’s really good that you clarified that aspect.

Also, we are often given only very scanty information on the Forum. That’s why I suggest that if people are concerned about the health of a hog that they contact their nearest carer/rehabilitator, in the first instance, who can not only ascertain all the appropriate information, but give more tailored advice.

We can but do our best.

[stef]

Hi Nic
I wasn’t referring to your posts.
I alway’s think you give the excellent advice – to be frank I usually leave posts to you to answer 🙂
But recently I’ve seen a few new people on here giving slightly alarmist responses so I thought it would be an idea to put something up
Please keep up the good work this site needs you

[Nic]

Thanks, Stef. Much appreciated.

[Author]

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