Life in the Fast Lane

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Portrayed in one of the most heartfelt images of sad cuteness overload, this little prickly patient is among many hedgehogs that have been arriving at St. Tiggywinkles animal wildlife hospital in Buckinghamshire. As victims caught up in road and garden accidents, some are being treated for broken bones, while more and more hedgehogs are ending up on the treatment table this year.

Photo Metro / Jeff Moore

From a cardboard box to a leading Wildlife Hospital, Les Stocker first began in his garden shed. The hospital now receives some 4,000 injured hedgehogs a year, along with many other creatures from toads, badgers and deer to wrens, owls and swans. It’s where 500 hedgehogs are served meals in bed daily in hopes to put on enough weight to survive the winter.

Estimates of 5 million wild animals are injured in Britain annually an as their paths interconnect with mankind. Most perish, but a fortunate handful of about 10,000 are given a fighting chance at St. Tiggywinkles.

All wild animal casualties are treated free of charge and released through a controlled program back into the wild once they’re fully fit. No sick, injured or orphaned wild creature is ever turned away. With no ‘put down policies’ in place, euthanasia is only practiced as a last resort. Any creature unable to be released is maintained at the Hospital, or at their Field Centre, in as natural conditions as possible.

A family run operation, Les Stocker oversees the nursing staff with unending patience to feed orphaned hedgehogs with eyedroppers. His wife Sue runs the front office, their son Colin manages the books, and veterinarian surgeons are called in when required.

Beginning as a hobby in 1978 when wildlife rescue wasn’t practiced much in Britain, the Stockers first cared for the furry, feathered, and spiked downtrodden in their home. Casualties quickly began to flood their home when the general public and animal welfare organizations became aware of their willingness to care for injured wildlife. They filled cages in the kitchen, the porch, and the garden, and volunteers came to help in shifts by the mid-1980’s.

The Stockers were forced to install a new building with the flood of creatures arriving as a ‘hedgehog only’ ward in1985 and christened ‘St. Tiggywinkles’, the world’s first bespoke hedgehog unit.

There was no written work or experience accessible in this very different field and no training available on wildlife for veterinary surgeons. Each patient was an unknown and together with a local sympathetic vet, they learned the idiosyncrasies of wild animals that demand such a different regime.

“We wanted a life change.” Les Stocker — a former accountant — says of his growing devotion to animals. “We took stock and we wanted to do something besides crunch numbers. I feel [animals] have gotten a rotten deal – we’ve taken over their land and everything. If you can pick them up, they’ve gotten to a state where they need your help. I never tire of helping them.”

Les Stocker posed with hedgehogs. These rolled-up creatures (inset) are some
of the 500 on the mend at St. Tiggywinkles. Photos Mary Knox Merrill Staff

The Stockers campaigned to raise awareness of the plight of hedgehogs and soon thousands of people were putting out bowls of water and dog food to support their neighborhood pricklies. The campaign highlighted the perils of ‘bread and milk’ — the traditional but harmful food for hedgehogs.

Stocker would give advice on hedgehog care to the never-ending callers, but sometimes he’d ask them to simply put the hedgehog on the train. “I knew that the British Rail network used to carry racing pigeons.” he said. “So I contacted British Rail and made the arrangement that if somebody had an injured hedgehog, they could put it on the train at their station [in a box] and they would go straight through to Aylesbury.” Hedgehogs from as far away as Scotland made the free journey as a Red Star parcel.

The Stockers were welcoming 10 hedgehogs a week — then came other small animals, followed by the occasional deer, and even a flock of starlings. “It just got harder and harder to fit everything in.” said Les Stocker. That’s when the idea came to build a wildlife hospital which opened in 1991.

Hedgehogs are a distinct focus at St. Tiggywinkles, where they take up the most room. Photo Les Stocker MBE HonAssocRCVS

Hedgehogs are Britain’s favorite wild animal, according to a 2005 survey by the Horticultural Society and St. Tiggywinkles. And the Environment Agency, a nonprofit environmental watchdog group, declared the hedgehog the icon of the environment for 2007. The hospital now includes a visitor center, a coffee shop, a hedgehog museum, and outdoor spaces and pens for recovering animals.

The hospital has continued to grow over the years and after many trials and hardships St. Tiggywinkles has become recognized throughout the world as a name synonymous with wildlife care and rehabilitation.

Stocker has written books on his wildlife practices and trained a network of ‘carers’ (foster hedgehog parents). Rail service to St. Tiggywinkles is no longer needed because of this network.

About Precious Prickly Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs are easily distinguished by their spines, which are hollow hairs made stiff with keratin, not poisonous nor barbed. Unlike the quills of a porcupine, they cannot easily be removed from the animal. Their spines normally come out when a hedgehog sheds baby spines to be replaced with adult spines, called ‘quilling.’ A hedgehog can also lose their spines when under extreme stress or during illness.

All species of hedgehogs possess the ability to roll into a tight ball as a defense, causing all of the spines to point outwards. Its effectiveness depends on the number of spines, but they are much more likely to try to run away. They will occasionally even attack the intruder, trying to ram into them with its spines, leaving rolling as a last resort.

Hedgehogs are nocturnal for the most part, although different species do come out during the daytime. The hedgehog sleeps for a large portion of the day either under cover of bush, grass, rocks, or in holes in the ground. Different species may have slightly differing habits, but hedgehogs generally dig out dens for shelter. All wild hedgehogs can hibernate, although not all do. Hibernation depends upon temperature, abundance of food and species.

They bear 5 toes on their front paws with short nails, and 4 toes with long, constantly growing nails on their back paws for burrowing.

These creatures are quite vocal, and communicate not only in a series of grunts and snuffles, but sometimes in loud squeals, depending on the species.

Hedgehogs occasionally perform a ritual called anointing. When the animal comes across a new scent, it will lick and bite the source and then form a scented froth in its mouth and paste it on its spines with its tongue. The specific purpose of this ritual is unknown, but some experts believe anointing camouflages the hedgehog with the new scent of the area and provides a possible poison or source of infection to any predator that gets poked by their spines.

They get on well with other pets such as cats and dogs, but when threatened, they simply roll into a ball until the threat is gone.

Samuel Palmer

The average litter for a hedgehog is 3 to 4 newborns for larger species and 5 to 6 for smaller ones. Depending on the species, the gestation period is 35 to 58 days. It’s not uncommon for an adult male hedgehog to kill newborn males.

One might believe a dilemma of the apparent danger of a male hedgehog being poked while mating with a female hedgehog, but this is not an issue for hedgehogs, as the male’s penis is very near the center of its abdomen — often mistaken for a belly button — and the female has the ability to curl her tail upward to the point that her vulva protrudes behind the rest of her body.

Long-eared hedgehog, in captivity in Leningrad Zoo.
Copyright by I.V. Korneev.

Considering their size, hedgehogs have a relatively long lifespan. Larger species of hedgehogs live 4 to 7 years in the wild, but some have been recorded up to 16 years. Smaller species live 2 to 4 years in the wild and 4 to 7 years in captivity. Lack of predators and controlled diet contribute to a longer lifespan in captivity.

It’s illegal to own a hedgehog as a pet in some U.S. states and some Canadian municipalities, and breeding licenses are required. No such restrictions exist in most European countries with the exception of Scandinavia.

A rather shocking and disturbing revelation is that hedgehogs are a food source in many cultures. Hedgehogs were eaten in Ancient Egypt and some recipes of the Late Middle Ages called for hedgehog meat. Hedgehog meat remains acceptable in some societies, and there are folk-remedies that include it as an ingredient.

Contact St. Tiggywinkles’ Hospital by phone at 01844 292292, visit them online at their website site, or on location:

Aston Road,
Haddenham,
Bucks HP17 8AF.

Sources: Metro, St. Tiggywinkles Hospital, and Wikipedia

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