Relocating hog due to danger of dog attack

[sundance1900@hotmail.com]

Hi. My colleague has a nightly visitor and her dog always barks at it. Apparently last night she found the hog with blood everywhere and moved it to the bottom of her garden. She leaves food for the hog at the bottom of the garden but every night the hog keeps going to the top of her garden and entering her dogs enclosure. She couldn’t tell me if the hog has wounds. She reckons the hog will be fine and had survived attacks before! I’ve asked her to put the hog in a box tonight and bring it to work. I’ll check it first thing and will take to vets if injured. If not, I was thinking of releasing it by where I work (about 8 miles away near a forest and river) or taking it him (about 11 miles away but my garden is hog friendly. I used to overwinter hogs and I have a feeder and house etc). I don’t normally like to move hogs but I’m seriously worried her dog will kill thae hog, it has done in the past. I’ve asked her to block the dog enclosure so hog can’t get in or keep dog locked in but she won’t do either… Any advice welcome.

[Jan-Marie]

Hi sundance1900,

you are right to be concerned about this. Dogs don’t often bother with hogs too much and usually make a lot of noise rather than cause injuries as such.

are you sure the bleeding is down to the dog and not another cause? certainly a bleeding hog needs help – I would advise you try and catch the hog and seek a hog expert rather than just a vet if you can – the hog expert will know the best vets to use for hog support and care if they cant do everything themselves. Try the Hedgehog bottom website for local contact (they don’t exist in huge numbers, but they can provide you more local links sometimes also and certainly advice over the phone).
Once you get that little chap correctly diagnosed and back to health hopefully, you can consider the release options.

also worth bearing in mind that if there was one hog in that situation – there could be more.

I would imagine that any hog would only be going into a dog enclosure for the food put out for the dog – could your colleague consider changing the feeding habits – ie raised dishes for the dog or feeding inside to deter any hogs from entering and risking life and limb? or putting boards up at the bottom of the enclosure to block hogs from entering.

http://www.hedgehog-rescue.org.uk/cms/find-a-rescue/

[stef]

Hi
I suggest you contact the BHPS and they will put you in touch with your nearest carer who will be able to look at this hog. They would be able to assess if it needs a vet and know good local ones.
I am astonished your colleague isn’t concerned about a hog covered in blood, to just release it into the garden borders on cruelty
Regarding relocation while it would be tempting to take it somewhere ‘safe’ it would be like dropping you off in the middle of China with no money and saying survive. It would be best to keep it in the same area – perhaps find if one of your colleagues neighbours is feeding hogs and introduce it there so it has a new food source. The BHPS have released new guidance for releasing hogs which everyone should read

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BHPS-Guidance-For-relasing-Rehabilitated-Hedgehogs.pdf

[sundance1900@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the advice. For whatever reason, my colleague won’t boarder up the enclosure, I will ask her again but it’s difficult. She’s not feeding her dogs in the enclosure, but sadly the hogs keep entering. The dog is barking all night and has attacked hogs before. I will see if the hog turns up again tonight. Sadly there isn’t a Rescue in our area anymore. I used to volunteer for one but it shut down. The vets are pretty good with wildlife and I’ve taken hogs to them before. My garden is hedgehog friendly and I have a feeder and hog house etc but it’s 11 miles away. My colleague is convinced that it’s the same hog (I’ve told her that it probably isn’t) so if another one turns up she might consider blocking up the enclosure more. I can ask her about neighbours etc but it’s hard because I’m relying on her etc. So I thought it might be better to take it home. But I know that’s not ideal.

[sundance1900@hotmail.com]

Update. My colleague will check tonight if it’s injured. If it is, we will get it to a vets. If not, I think I’ve convinced her to leave the hog in the garden but to cover up any gaps so it can’t get in the enclosure. Fingers crossed.

[stef]

Well done, fingers crossed

[sundance1900@hotmail.com]

To be fair, she does care about the hogs. She’s bought a house and feeds them. But I don’t think she released how much damaged a bite can do. I’ve explained to her about flystrike etc. I’m hoping the dog just grazed the hog and that the blood might have been the dogs? And that isn’t badly injured. If it is, she’s going to bring it to work and I’ll take it to the vets at lunchtime! No ideal I know but difficult when you work.

[Nic]

If there’s any chance that you can get the hog checked by an expert, I would. I had a dog get into my garden a few years ago that attacked a hog. There was no blood, although she did have a limp. She was taken to a wildlife hospital and it turned out that she was actually fatally injured, even though it didn’t show to a non-expert. Good luck and well done for your efforts so far – difficult situation.

[Nic]

Thanks for the link, Stef. I am so glad they have produced that document. Hopefully it will stop some of the things we hear about.

[stef]

Yes it’s useful

I see a lot of hogs with dog or fox bites. It’s a myth that they rarely attack. Terrier types especially will have a go.
It’s very difficult to see the wounds ( and I’m an expert ) due to the fur and prickles and so usually I get to see them once the abscess has formed or they are fly struck, so please sundance1900 take the hog to an expert/vet for checking.

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