Hedgehog numbers are now so low in Britain that one of our favourite garden animals is on the verge of extinction.
It is estimated that the British population has fallen from about 1.5 million in 1995 to 500,000 in 2018.
Causes include the intensification of farming, an increase in the population of badgers, which prey on hedgehogs, and more traffic on the roads.
The RSPCA said last week two hedgehogs had been severely injured by garden strimmers in Bournemouth. One had such bad injuries that it had to be put down.
But despite being put on a new red list of British species at risk of extinction published by The Mammal Society, they do not have the same legal protection as red squirrels, bats and water voles, desperately needed to help reverse a steep decline in their numbers.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has urged the Government to add the species to the list of those protected under schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from deliberate killing and injuring.
At present hedgehogs are listed under schedule 6, meaning they are only protected from being killed by prohibited methods, such as crossbows, traps and snares. The Government rejected an appeal in 2018 for hedgehogs to be listed under schedule 5.
The charity says not only will it help to protect them from intentional disturbance, it would mean that developers would be obliged to take steps to prevent harm to hedgehogs on their sites.
Hugh Warwick, spokesman for the society, also said the additional protection proposed by the society would mean developers “would be obliged to make sure they weren’t killing hedgehogs. They would have to put in mitigations to allow hedgehogs to thrive.
“This isn’t an attempt to stymie development, throwing more newts on the fire, as it were, it’s about giving hedgehogs more robust protection,” he said. “Hedgehogs are not going to stop house building. However, an increase in protection will enable new houses to be built that share the landscape with the nation’s favourite animal.”
For advice on how to help, visit britishhedgehogs.org.uk/helping-hedgehog.
