HEDGEHOG Week runs from May 1 to 7, so we are urging people to Think Hedgehog.

The decline in hedgehogs is thought to be about five per cent a year but the exact cause is unclear and more likely to be a combination of factors rather than one single reason.

One of the biggest impacts on hedgehogs is the lack of access to gardens. The simple act of blocking up holes in a garden could have a huge detrimental effect on a local hedgehog population and cut its territory in half. The smaller the area a hedgehog gets to roam the less likely it is to survive.

Every year we get loads of hedgehogs being admitted after being attacked by dogs, injured by strimmers and burnt in bonfires. causing in discarded litter like elastic bands, plastic beer can holders And even on one occasion, a baby hedgehog being caught in the loop of a Christmas bauble.

We regularly hear that people have moved hedgehogs too and taken them out to the woods or given them to a friend who hasn’t got any.

This too is detrimental to their survival. Releasing a hedgehog in a location it doesn’t know is likely to cause it suffering as it doesn’t know the area, the local food sources or the local hazards as well as being illegal. Hedgehogs like compost bins and often nest in them too, so when gardening, digging or strimming please be careful and check first to avoid any casualties.

So please Think Hedgehogs and help this declining species. WRAS will have its Hedgehog Education Trailer outside Jollyes Pet Food Store in Hailsham on Sunday until Tuesday, 10am to 4pm so please come along.

  • Trevor Weeks is founder of East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service