Hedgehog Road Mortality and Garden Safety

Hedgehog populations have declined by up to 50% in the UK since 2000, with road mortality, habitat fragmentation, and garden hazards among the leading causes — making urban garden management a key conservation and welfare issue.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog populations have fallen from an estimated 30 million in the 1950s to fewer than 1 million today
An estimated 100,000 hedgehogs are killed on UK roads each year, making roads a primary mortality driver
Garden hazards including strimmers, bonfires, ponds without escape ramps, and netting cause thousands of hedgehog deaths annually
Hedgehogs travel up to 2 kilometres per night foraging; garden boundary walls and close-boarded fences block essential movement
The Big Hedgehog Map and citizen science initiatives provide data on population distribution and decline

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehog welfare in urban areas is highly amenable to individual citizen action — making gardens hedgehog-friendly requires modest effort and no financial cost. Creating 13cm hedgehog holes in fences, checking bonfires before lighting, covering drains, and removing netting are high-impact welfare interventions at household scale. Collective adoption of these practices across neighbourhoods creates wildlife corridors that can support viable local populations.

What You Can Do

Create a 13cm hedgehog hole in fence panels to connect your garden to neighbouring habitat
Check compost heaps and bonfires before disturbing them for sheltering hedgehogs
Install a pond escape ramp or beach gradient and remove garden netting at night
Record hedgehog sightings on citizen science platforms to contribute to population monitoring