Hibernation in hedgehogs is a critical period when disturbance, cold, and lack of adequate fat reserves can be fatal — and human activities including bonfires and garden work cause significant mortality.
Hibernation is physiologically demanding — hedgehogs survive winter by burning fat reserves accumulated in autumn. Disturbance forces metabolic arousal that burns these reserves rapidly without replacement opportunity. Early waking from hibernation can be fatal. The anthropogenic causes of hibernation disturbance — bonfires, garden clearance, and bonfire night celebrations — are predictable and preventable. Simple precautions like building bonfires on the day rather than in advance, and checking hibernacula before disturbance, prevent significant hedgehog suffering every winter.