Hedgehog Decline and Recovery | Animal Welfare Hub

The British hedgehog has declined by approximately 50% since the year 2000, with urban and rural populations facing different threats that require tailored conservation and welfare interventions.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog populations have declined from an estimated 30 million in the 1950s to fewer than 1 million today
Urban hedgehog populations are declining at approximately 30% per decade
Rural hedgehog populations are declining at even faster rates due to intensive agriculture and loss of hedgerows
Road traffic kills an estimated 100,000 hedgehogs annually in the UK
Hedgehog Street, run by PTES and BHPS, campaigns for garden hedgehog highways and friendly habitats

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehog decline represents a welfare crisis at population scale — millions of animals losing access to adequate food, shelter and mates as suitable habitats shrink and fragment. Individual welfare harms include road traffic injuries, death from slug pellets, entanglement in garden netting and disturbance of hibernation sites. Urban hedgehogs face additional threats from development, garden boundary barriers and domestic cats and dogs. The welfare case for hedgehog conservation is both about preventing individual suffering and about maintaining viable populations in which hedgehogs can live full lives with access to the resources they need.

What You Can Do

Create a hedgehog highway in your garden fence and register at www.hedgehogstreet.org
Provide food and water for visiting hedgehogs particularly in autumn when they need to build fat reserves
Check garden areas before mowing or strimming to avoid injuring hedgehogs
Avoid slug pellets and use alternatives to protect hedgehogs from secondary poisoning
Volunteer with local hedgehog rescue groups that provide care and release services