Hedgehog Road Mortality and Garden Connectivity

Road traffic kills millions of hedgehogs annually in Europe while garden fencing creates additional mortality through fragmentation of hedgehog foraging territories.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog populations have declined by approximately 50% since 2000 with road mortality a primary cause
Hedgehogs are crepuscular and nocturnal, making them vulnerable to vehicles during peak traffic hours at dawn and dusk
A single hedgehog requires a territory of 20-100 hectares foraged across multiple gardens and green spaces nightly
Solid garden fencing prevents hedgehog passage and fragments foraging territories, reducing food access and mate finding
Hedgehog highways, 13cm square holes in fencing, allow hedgehog passage while maintaining boundary function
Garden ponds without escape ramps trap and drown hedgehogs that fall in while drinking or exploring
Strimmer accidents during grass cutting cause severe injuries to hedgehogs resting in long grass during the day
Slug pellets containing metaldehyde and some other pesticides cause hedgehog secondary poisoning through contaminated prey

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehog welfare in human-dominated landscapes is determined almost entirely by human infrastructure and behaviour choices. Roads kill hedgehogs because hedgehogs evolved before high-speed traffic and have no adaptive response to vehicles. Garden fencing fragments habitat because modern boundary styles prevent the movement that hedgehogs need across multiple garden territories. Both represent welfare harms that individual and collective human action can reduce directly. The hedgehog highway initiative demonstrates that garden-scale habitat connectivity is achievable through community coordination, with networks of fenced-off holes allowing hedgehog movement across multiple gardens. Combined with elimination of metaldehyde slug pellets, provision of pond escape ramps, and careful strimmer use, these garden-level interventions can meaningfully improve hedgehog welfare at landscape scale.

What You Can Do

Create a hedgehog highway by cutting a 13cm hole in your garden fence and asking neighbours to do the same
Install a ramp in any garden pond to allow hedgehogs and other animals to escape if they fall in
Stop using metaldehyde slug pellets and switch to iron phosphate alternatives or physical slug control
Check long grass and leaf piles before strimming or turning compost to avoid injuring resting hedgehogs
Leave areas of the garden wild with leaf litter and log piles to provide hedgehog nesting and foraging habitat