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Can you home an autumn orphan?
Bedfordshire Wildlife Rescue needs hedgehog fosterers
As the leaves prepare to turn to autumn gold and chestnut brown, a Houghton Regis charity is asking animal lovers to make room in their homes and in their hearts for next season's most vulnerable creatures.
Autumn orphan hedgehogs are those born late in the year, during August and September, which means they do not have enough time to reach the required weight for successful hibernation.
And if an underweight hedgehog does hibernate, it will die before the winter is over.
So Bedfordshire Wildlife Rescue founder Sam Bedford, who runs the facility from her own home, is urging homeowners in the area to help out by looking after one of her prickly patients during the winter months.
She told the Gazette: "We get an awful lot of autumn orphan hedgehogs. Last year we had 100 by December. They are a second litter of hedgehogs born around now.
"By the end of September and October they are not big enough to hibernate so they come out during the day to find food.
"They are usually 200g or 250g at that time of year but they need to be 600g to make it through hibernation easily. If they are less than 600g they are simply not going to make it.
"We get around 100 hedgehogs and we don't have enough room to keep them so we need hedgehog fosterers. They take hedgehogs that are big enough to hibernate but not to be released."
The little spiny mammals simply need a safe, warm place to lay their heads.
Sam, who currently only has two hedgehog foster carers, said: "We are providing everything, the hutch, the food, the hedgehog. Within a few days it will have hibernated. They will only need to change the food and in the spring they can just let them go. All we need is to use people's gardens.
"But these are wild animals, they are not playthings for children. Also we would prefer a garden where there is not a resident dog."
Ideally, the charity is looking for release sites as well. An ideal release site is somewhere that has hedgehogs visiting it already. Sam said: "If you have hedgehogs visiting your garden already and don't mind more visiting next spring, then great!"
If you would like to be a hedgehog fosterer, or you have a suitable release site, email info@wildlife-rescue.org.uk
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Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
