A pregnant hedgehog and its young babies have died after being kicked and attacked by yobs.
Police have launched an appeal after several youths, thought to be aged between 12 and 13, were spotted booting and throwing stones at the hedgehog in Shenley, Hertfordshire on Saturday, 25 June around 7pm.
Fortunately, two onlookers were in the area and stepped in as the yobs, who were abusive to the eyewitnesses, ran down an alleyway as they made their escape.
Tragically, the hedgehog had to be put to sleep after the vicious attack from the group of youths caused the hedgehog a serious injury to her mouth which left her unable to eat.
And despite the best efforts of the vets, the injury to the hedgehog's roof of the mouth was too severely damaged and sadly could not be stitched.
She subsequently gave birth to all three of the hedgehogs, but they have since tragically died.
In a statement on Facebook, London Colney Hedgehog Rescue, where the injured hedgehog was taken, said: "She had deteriorated and unable to eat. The injury in the roof of her mouth was too severe to heal and impossible to stitch.
"The break had caused an open area to her nasal cavity resulting in her unable to eat.
"Even syringe feeding was not fair with the amount of discomfort it was causing her.
"We felt this injury was never going to heal together (through past experience), but we gave her a chance over the past week. Both the vets and I made the decision to let her go whilst she was under anaesthetic.
"And trust me (if anyone knows me) and as a hedgehog rescue, we don't give up lightly on mending all sorts of injuries and rehabilitating them back into the wild.
"Thank you for everyone's support and we won't give up trying to find those evil children who have now actually killed not one but four hedgehogs if we count her babies too."
PC Dan Hill of Hertfordshire Police, who spoke previously about the incident, said: "After being taken to the rescue centre it was discovered that the animal was pregnant and had suffered a number of serious injuries.
"Including the loss of sight in one of her eyes, spinal damage, a broken leg, fractured jaw and a laceration to her jaw.
"We are a nation of animal lovers so I'm sure that many of you will be appalled by this incident.
"I would like to reassure the local community that we do take animal cruelty seriously and the Rural Operational Support Team, who specialise in dealing with rural and wildlife crime, will be assisting us with this investigation."
