'It's time to help hedgehogs'

Over the past two decades the numbers of hedgehogs has fallen by around 50 per cent – with chemicals and habitat destruction cited as two of the big reasons for the decline.

Hollis Mead Organic Dairy, near Beaminster on the Somerset and Dorset border, have just released more than 40 hedgehogs which were rescued in Lincolnshire.

Some support the decision, but others question whether hedgehogs should only be released in the local areas where they were found.

Oliver Hemsley from Hollis Mead Organic Dairy, , said: “We came here in 1998 and there were a plethora of hedgehogs when we arrived.

“Slowly but surely the number has decreased.”

The partner at the organic business believes general farming chemicals are partly to blame for the decline, saying: “The amount of chemicals used on the land by farmers in the pursuit of cheap food, everybody wants cheap food. We’ve waged chemical mechanical warfare against nature.”

But critics claim the animals should not be relocated long distances.

Rick Parker from Elm Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation near Newton Abbot said: “We try and get it back to its original place where it was found unless there is a danger there.”

Pauline Kidner, from Somerset-based Secret World Wildlife Rescue, said: “We always put adults back to where they came from because they know their site. They know where they can find food. They know they can find cover.

“There’s also probably members of their family that they also want to join up as well.

“With the babies we used to find new sites but then there’s always that question of if there isn’t an animal there of that species why is there not an animal of that species?”

Liz Millineaux, the scientific advisor for Secret World, added: “It’s got everything (the decline of the species) to do with how we manage land and our garden.

“The impact we’ve had on hedgehog food and things like that.

“There’s no point in moving them unless you’re moving them into an environment they can survive in so that’s the first thing – when you brought them down here why were they not here in the first place. Have changes been made to that environment?

Chris Shaw, welfare officer at Andrew’s Hedgehog Hospital, which relocated the animals, said: “We take two poo samples from each hedgehog before we release them to make sure they’re not carrying any parasites or pathogens.”

He added, of the location, “This site is particularly acceptable mainly because of the type of trees that are growing here, but also because it’s completely organic.

“They have everything they need to sustain a good life. There’s water available for them.

“It’s what we call hedgehog heaven.”

• hedgehog population decline