Who killed my hedgehog?

[Spinyfriend]

Sadly this morning I found a dead hedgehog on my back lawn. It was a young female and its front paw had been chewed off. Has anyone else experienced this? Could it have been done by a fox? We do have frequent visits from a fox, and though I don’t encourage it, I don’t know whether there’s any way of keeping it away. (I don’t use a strimmer so it wasn’t that.)
I weighed the poor little thing and it was just under 400 g so its prospects weren’t good anyway. I just hope we get some warmer weather for a while so they can carry on feeding before they hibernate.

[Nic]

Hi Spinyfriend

Very sad to hear about the poor little hog. You’re right, it could have been a fox. Apparently young foxes, in particular, will play with hedgehogs and cause damage to their legs.

At 400g with still some time to put on more weight before it hibernated, and if it had access to supplementary food, it could have survived hibernation, which makes it even sadder.

You might want to think about reporting the poor hog: https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-ive-found-a-dead-hedgehog/

[Spinyfriend]

Thanks Nic, it’s heartbreaking when you feed them and watch them and then lose them. The story has a happier ending though. Later that same day (around lunch time) we found a small hog, roughly half the size of the dead one, scurrying around in the garden. We thought he might have been searching for his mum. Although he’s probably too small to survive at this time of year on his own he looked strong and vigorous. We put him in a box with food, water and bedding and took him to the local animal hospital where the vets gave him a quick once-over and pronounced him healthy. They have now transferred him to a wildlife rescue where he’ll be looked after and hopefully returned to us when he’s ready to be released.

[Nic]

Hi Spinyfriend

That’s such good news about the little one – well done! Yes, it can sometimes be very sad caring about hogs, but sometimes rewarding too.

Fingers crossed for the little one.

[Annabella]

That was so sad but with a silver lining. I have two hogs coming to my garden most nights. Up to 3 foxes and lots of cats. They all get on OK but the bigger hog did come and roll the smaller hog into a ball but have been fine since. I put dried mealworm out to and they can’t get enough. I hope you get the little one back to release. Good luck.

[Nic]

Hi Annabella

Glad to hear you have hedgehogs visiting there. I’m guessing you haven’t read any of the information previously on the forum about mealworms being bad for hogs. You will find more information about that in here: http://www.valewildlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Feeding-wild-hedgehogs.pdf

Hopefully you will be able to persuade the hogs to eat something better for them than mealworms – especially important at this time of year when they may be about to hibernate. Cat/kitten biscuits can be quite useful at this time of year – don’t freeze on cold nights, etc.

Good luck.

[Author]

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