European hedgehogs are declining rapidly across their range, with garden hazards including netting, strimmers, and pesticide use contributing to injury and death alongside broader habitat loss from agricultural intensification.
Hedgehog welfare in suburban and rural landscapes is shaped by the cumulative effect of many small human hazards. Netting injuries are particularly distressing — hedgehogs curl into their defensive ball posture when caught, tightening the entanglement and cutting off circulation. Found in time, they can be freed; found too late, limbs are lost or the animal dies. Strimmer injuries create horrific lacerations on animals sheltering in long grass. Slug pellet poisoning causes a slow, distressing neurological death. Beyond these direct harms, the fragmentation of hedgehog habitat by solid fencing prevents the movement needed for foraging, mating, and population connectivity. Hedgehog highways — small gaps at the base of garden boundaries — are a simple, free solution that dramatically expands available habitat.