Hedgehogs face predation threats from badgers, dogs, and garden hazards including strimmers and netting. Understanding and mitigating these threats improves individual welfare in garden environments.
Garden safety for hedgehogs requires awareness of a surprising range of hazards that are invisible to many gardeners. A hedgehog entangled in pea netting may suffer for hours before dying or being found; one killed by a strimmer through careless grass-cutting suffers acute traumatic injury. Each of these welfare harms is preventable through simple precautions that impose minimal inconvenience on gardeners. The combination of active habitat improvement - hedgehog highways, hibernation sites, water access - with hazard reduction creates genuinely hedgehog-safe gardens that support individual welfare for these declining animals.