Wild Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation

Injured and sick wild hedgehogs benefit from rehabilitation but require specialised care — understanding when and how to help is essential for good welfare outcomes.

Key Facts

Common hedgehog welfare emergencies include road traffic injuries, dog attacks, strimmer wounds, and cases found out in daylight (typically indicating illness).
A hedgehog found active in daylight is almost certainly sick — healthy hedgehogs are nocturnal and only emerge after dark.
Underweight hedgehogs found in autumn (below 600g) require supplementary feeding to reach safe hibernation weight.
Hedgehogs should be transported in a high-sided box with newspaper and a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel.
Rehabilitated hedgehogs have good return-to-wild outcomes when released in suitable habitat near where they were found.

Welfare Considerations

Wild hedgehog welfare through rehabilitation involves minimising suffering from the point of rescue through recovery and release. The most common welfare failure in good-intentioned rescues is providing inappropriate food (cow's milk causes potentially fatal diarrhoea in hedgehogs), inadequate warmth, or attempting to care for animals that need specialist veterinary attention. The welfare-positive response to a hedgehog in need is immediate warming, appropriate feeding, and prompt contact with a local hedgehog rescue organisation.

What You Can Do

Contact a local hedgehog rescue organisation immediately when finding a sick, injured, or underweight hedgehog.
Provide warmth and water (not milk) while arranging veterinary or rescue care for found hedgehogs.
Never give cow's milk to hedgehogs — this causes severe diarrhoea and can be fatal.
Donate to hedgehog rescue organisations that provide rehabilitation, release, and education services.