British hedgehog populations have declined by up to 30% in urban areas and up to 50% in rural areas since 2000, with garden management playing a crucial role.
Hedgehog suffering from current population declines operates at both the population and individual level. Individually, hedgehogs injured by garden machinery, poisoned by slug pellets or trapped in garden nets suffer in isolation, often dying slowly without discovery. Road mortality causes traumatic injury and often prolonged suffering. Trapped hedgehogs in steep-sided ponds or cattle grids can experience prolonged distress before death by exhaustion or drowning. The cumulative effect of these threats has created a welfare crisis that every garden owner can meaningfully contribute to addressing.