CUTE PICTURES ALERT: Eight young hedgehogs get pampering baths before release into the wild

Becky Morley of Shepreth Hedgehog Hospital gives hedgehogs a bath before being released at Center Parcs Woburn Forest last week.

Eight young hedgehogs have been released at Center Parcs in Woburn Forest after many months of care at a special hedgehog hospital.

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Before their new life of freedom, the prickly creatures were given pampering baths by staff at the Shepreth Hedgehog Hospital.

They were then put into familiarisation pens at Center Parcs’ newest resort, Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire - near Milton Keynes - which is an official hedgehog release site.

The hedgehogs will spend two weeks in the pens to get used to the sights and smells of their new environment before they are set free to venture into the wild.

All eight of them were found last year and were either injured or too small to hibernate for the winter.

Becky Morley, voluntary procurement manager at Shepreth, said: “Through our care and rehabilitation over the long winter they are now fully grown and ready to be released.”

Becky is pictured bathing the hedgehogs.

The hospital has manged a hedgehog rehabilitation programme for the past 25 years and has helped rescue over 800 hedgehogs over the last 12 months.

For more details on how you can support the hedgehogs http://www.swccharity.org/hedgehog-hospital