Hello, my name is Sophie. I have recently opened a small Hedgehog rescue in north Lincolnshire. I have always been mystified by Hedgehogs, they're my favourite animal, as a child I use to love watching them in our garden at home.

In 2016 I was diagnosed with Cancer. I was 32 years old! I was fortunate though after a major operation and months of recovery I beat it. As you can imagine this was life changing, from then on I said "one day I'm going to do something that makes a difference".

When the covid pandemic began I went from working full time to not working at all. It was in the first few weeks at home that I decided now was the time, lets make a difference! I really wanted to open my own rescue, the only problem was that I didn't have any experience with sick or injured Hedgehogs, so I decided to volunteer at a hedgehog rescue to gain experience, whilst there I was trained then certified by the vet to assess and administer medications.

As a rescue we are mainly self funded. We do this as a family, my husband helps fund our little rescue and he is the DIY man. Our children help us tremendously with the day to day care, they help us with cleaning out, weighing, washing food and water bowls, sweeping floors etc etc. We are a small rescue trying to secure the future for hedgehogs in the uk in the best way we can, unfortunatly funds dictate how much we can help, thats where you come in, the more funds we recieve the more we can invest in making a difference - we want to go all the way!

Sadly our Hedgehogs are now red flagged as vulnerable to extinction, in the last 20 years it is thought that there has been a 50% decline in numbers in some areas.

At present we have a steady flow of hedgehogs coming in, we see juvenile, sick or injured hogs needing help. I’m asking for help towards the ongoings costs of running our little rescue, we are so grateful for any help big or small and couldn’t survive without it.

Thank you for taking the time to read about us, we would love for you to follow our journey and we would be so grateful if you could help us help Hedgehogs.

All the best and thank you for supporting us.

Sophie Hanks

Happy Hogs Rescue