As you may have see on the BBC South East News this winter is expected to be one of the busiest yet for East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service who already have over 95 hedgehogs in care and are expecting to over winter at least 120 hedgehogs found too small to hibernate.  Each hedgehog costs on average £130 to overwinter.

"We are getting up to 5 hedgehogs being admitted each day, found out during the day time, most of them underweight, too small to hibernate, or suffering from injuries primarily after being caught in netting, picked up by dogs or hit by cars” explained Chris Riddington WRAS Casualty Manager.

Hedgehogs are thought to be declining by 5% each year. East Sussex  has a number of areas where hedgehogs are doing really well and others where they are almost non-existent.  WRAS deals with 400-600 hedgehogs every year of which the majority of them are successfully treated and returned back into their home range helping to keep populations going.