Today at vale was a sad day, a lady came in late afternoon, and within a box she produced an adult hedgehog, asking if there was anything we could do for him/her, she had sometime that day lit a bonfire not realising that sound asleep inside was this innocent hedgehog. I took him straight to the treatment room, where caroline and i examined him, he was still quite warm from the fire, and the smell was overwhelming, his spines are badly burnt on the one side, and singed on most of his spines all over his body, we treated him for shock, and gave antibiotics to help with fluid that was building up inside, and to help combat any infections. Only time will tell us how he will recover, and we will be monitoring every few hours. Sadly we do not know if it is male or female, we are hoping it is not a female who may well of had babies with her. (I know i keep saying "HE") i always call everything "HE". Anyway, my point is, if you are looking at lighting your bonfire in the back garden, please please, check for any wildlife which may be "living" in it, if at all possible relocate it just to be sure, thanks for your time in reading this, I feel it is quite important just to remind people.
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angela smith
vale wildlife rehabilitation hospital
Have been trying to upload some photos of him from the camera but the card reader has packed up! Typical. Will get some on here asap.
The hedgehog is doing very well considering. The one thing that we are worried about is infection but so far, with the help of a good course of antibiotics, there is no sign of any problems.
Ang here, just wanted to update you on our "Bonfire Hedgehog" I know i kept calling him "he", but actually it's a SHE! She has been reassessed again today, and is doing o.k. still along way to go, but her wounds are nice and clean, and infection free thanks to the antibiotics she has been having, and is still on. Today Caroline removed some more of the dead skin, we have to do this as it just comes away, and it is easier to keep the wound nice and clean, and the skin needs to regenerate. we dont know if the spines will grow back, obviously we are keeping our fingers crossed, but it will be a while before there are any signs of them coming back. Oh! and we now think there is a possibility that she may well be pregnant, again we will have to wait to see how things turn out. Will keep you updated on her progress.
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angela smith
vale wildlife rehabilitation hospital
