Hedgehog Highway Networks and Urban Welfare

Hedgehog populations have declined by over 50% in the UK since 2000, and creating connected garden corridors is one of the most impactful individual actions for urban wildlife welfare.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog populations have fallen from 30 million in the 1950s to under 1 million today
Garden fences and walls fragment hedgehog territories, preventing mate-finding and foraging
A 13cm by 13cm hole in every garden fence would connect habitats across entire neighbourhoods
Hedgehogs travel up to 2km per night in search of food
Road mortality kills tens of thousands of hedgehogs annually
Slug pellets and insecticides reduce the invertebrate prey hedgehogs depend on

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehog welfare in urban areas is primarily shaped by habitat connectivity and food availability. Isolated garden populations cannot find mates, leading to inbreeding and eventual local extinction. Animals unable to travel sufficiently may starve. Hedgehogs that enter roads face traumatic injury and death. Slug pellet poisoning causes slow death from internal bleeding. These are serious welfare harms at large scale that individuals can meaningfully address through simple garden modifications. The hedgehog highway campaign has installed tens of thousands of fence holes across UK gardens.

What You Can Do

Cut a 13cm x 13cm hole in your garden fence and encourage neighbours to do the same
Register your garden on the Big Hedgehog Map to help track connectivity
Stop using slug pellets - use beer traps or copper tape instead
Provide supplementary hedgehog food (cat food, not bread/milk) in a feeding station
Check bonfire piles for hedgehogs before lighting - they nest in leaf piles