Over the last 12 months we have taken in and rehabilitated over 50 Hedgehogs, after we have talked to other Hog rescues this is a big problem and they get inundated with hedgehogs regulary.

One of YAWS Hogs getting weighed - still in care

We need to address this by setting up a dedicated hog hospital unit run by volunteers but we need help to raise the money to get the equipment we need to admit and rehabilitate hedgehogs back to the wild.

This £400 pounds is to get the Microscope (£200) to identify what parasites admitted hogs have when they are admitted into YAWS, unfortunately this is vital because we currently don't have one worming product to kill all the different worms that burden Hedgehogs, and the remainder will help us get the different medication required to worm hogs. Anything left will help us feed the hedgehogs currently in our care.

Unfortunately down to different pressures our Hedgehogs are in decline and many are manmade risks and have a major part to play in their decline, we build infrastructure and remove the hogs habitat, we also tend to fully enclose our gardens, closing them off to the foraging hog and causing hedgehogs to forage in a smaller area, a hedgehog can travel upto a mile a night looking for food and doing hog things, we can greatly help hedgehogs by creating a small hole for hogs to utilise our gardens.

We also use pesticides and poisons that kill many hedgehogs every year, like slug pellets and rat poisons, did you know - the hedgehog will eat a little road kill meat and carrion if it stumbles upon it. If that rat has been poisoned , so will the hog if it has a nibble.

Another YAWS Hogs in our Rehab unit in Ossett - been released

Many hogs get killed on our roads every year, a hedgehog can move relatively quick when required but has no chance to get out of the way of a motor vehicle, unfortunately hogs, if cold they will be drawn onto the warm tarmac of our roads especially if it has been sunny during that day, tarmac retains heat and releases heat slower than the environment, also finding road kill may find a hog in the road and if a vehicle approaches the hog it is unable to get off the road fast enough to not get killed.

Stock picture - Credit HPS

And if that is not enough that our activity affects hogs so much, the way our infrastructure and the way we live also has an affect, urban hedgehogs will eat discarded food stuffs that arent good for them, also they get trapped in drains, netting, drown in ponds they can not get out of, and get injured by lawn mowers, strimmers and even the family dog.

Because of all this The Yorkshire Animal Welfare Society sees caring and rehabilitating hedgehogs as a priority objective to try and negate our actions by rehabilitating hedgehogs, this is where you guys come in we need to buy the equipment need to care for these spiky, endearing animals and every penny will go directly into treating and caring and releasing off Hedgehogs.

YAWS Hog picked up in the summer 2017 - Released

We need:-

A Microscope - Hedgehogs have very different parasite infestations than other mammals and no single wormer will treat all the worm types that affect Hedgehogs, so we have to look at the hogs feces samples and treat by targeting the results.

An incubator - This is for young hogs(hoglets) and hogs suffering the effects of cold

Housing - we need housing pens to house the hog hospitals admissions.

Medication - we need different medications to treat all the hogs ailments.

and the £400 will help greatly to set us up on a small scale giving us a starting point to build on.

Thank you The Yorkshire Animal Welfare Society.

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