Hedgehog Welfare: Supporting a Declining Garden Visitor

Hedgehog populations have declined dramatically across Europe. Garden-friendly practices and rescue support directly improve welfare for one of Britain's most loved wild mammals.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog populations have declined by over 50% since the 1990s, driven by habitat loss and garden fragmentation
Hedgehogs roam up to 2 km per night foraging — garden boundaries and roads are significant barriers
Road traffic is a leading cause of hedgehog mortality; bonfire sites cause deaths from burning before ignition
Garden chemicals including slug pellets (metaldehyde) poison hedgehogs directly and reduce their invertebrate food base
Hedgehog highways — 13cm holes in garden fences — enable movement through fragmented suburban habitat
Hedgehog rescue centres care for thousands of injured and underweight animals annually

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehog welfare is both an individual animal welfare issue and a population-level conservation concern. Individual hedgehogs in gardens face injury from garden machinery, poisoning from pesticides, drowning in ponds without escape ramps, and starvation when invertebrate food is scarce. Population-level declines reflect landscape-scale habitat loss that reduces access to food, mates, and hibernation sites. Both individual and population welfare are improved by the same actions: wildlife-friendly gardens, connected habitat, reduced pesticide use, and support for rescue organisations. Hedgehog welfare is accessible to individual action in a way that many conservation challenges are not.

What You Can Do

Cut a 13cm hedgehog highway into your garden fence to enable movement through your neighbourhood
Check areas before mowing or strimming — hedgehogs hide in long grass
Remove slug pellets containing metaldehyde and replace with pet-safe alternatives or physical barriers
Provide a hedgehog water source in summer and consider supplementary food (wet cat food, not milk)
Create a wild corner in your garden — log piles and leaf heaps provide hibernation sites and invertebrate habitat