Wildlife

Wild Hedgehog Population Decline UK

UK hedgehog populations have fallen by over 50% since 2000, with garden management, road casualties, and habitat loss being the primary drivers.

Key Facts

UK hedgehog numbers have declined from an estimated 30 million in the 1950s to under 1 million
Road casualties kill an estimated 335,000 hedgehogs annually in the UK
Garden pesticide use reduces invertebrate prey availability for foraging hedgehogs
Hedgehog highways - holes in garden fences - enable territory ranging critical to survival
Bonfire checking before lighting prevents hedgehog deaths during hibernation setup

Welfare Considerations

Hedgehogs face welfare harms from multiple human activities: road strikes cause fatal trauma, garden chemicals and slug pellets cause poisoning through prey contamination, and predator control that kills foxes paradoxically reduces hedgehog populations where fox predation pressure keeps rabbit populations low. Individual hedgehogs found out in daytime are almost always sick and require urgent wildlife rehabilitator assessment.

What You Can Do

Create a hedgehog highway by cutting a 13cm hole in garden fences
Avoid using slug pellets or pesticides in your garden
Check bonfires before lighting and compost heaps before turning
Leave areas of wild garden with dense ground cover for nesting
Support the British Hedgehog Preservation Society