British hedgehogs have declined by over 50% since 2000, with garden hazards, habitat fragmentation, and badger predation creating welfare challenges for a beloved species increasingly restricted to urban gardens.
Hedgehogs injured by strimmers or mowing equipment suffer severe lacerations requiring veterinary treatment; many die from injuries or are euthanized. Poisoning from slug pellets causes neurological symptoms and a distressing death. Road mortality — the leading cause of hedgehog death — results in traumatic injury. These are all preventable welfare harms arising from easily modified human behaviors. The decline in hedgehog populations represents the cumulative welfare loss of millions of individuals over decades. Simple individual actions — checking grass before mowing, moving bonfire materials before lighting, providing hedgehog highways in fences — prevent many of these welfare harms at negligible cost. The urban garden represents both the primary remaining hedgehog habitat and the site of most preventable mortality.