A happy tale

[Anonymous]

Some of you will know from twitter that in early december we had a new house guest in the form of a very poorly hedgehog that was rescued through the snow weighing just 270g

Was touch and go for the first two weeks as the little thing desperately held onto life and we thought we were going to lose her. Finally the antibiotics did their job and the other medicines cleared her of infection and worms.

By Christmas eve she was up to 400g, 600 by January and yesterday after hitting 900g she returned to the wild to the most amazing hedgehog colony that already has a couple of resident hedgehogs and miles and miles of countryside to explore.

All the photos from her winter stay in our spare room along with release photos from yesterday are here> http://www.dimspace.net/hoggie.html

Something to brighten up your afternoon

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Great news!

We had the opposite experience a year or two ago. One crawled onto our patio and died. I had to keep the cat inside until it was disposed of, since I didn't know what it had died of.

Glad your story had a happier ending, and I hope the hedgehog has a long and healthy outdoor life.

Susan

 

[Anonymous]

They often dont make it. Our first one of the year only lasted 48 hours, this one was a bit tougher. Biggest problem with them is the old wives tale that they eat slugs, when in fact slugs contain lungworm that kills hoggies. Basically fills their lungs with the worms and they suffocate and die. Fortunately this one wasnt too badly infected and the antibiotics and treatment did the job.,

Interesting hoggies and cats get on just fine. Ours was restricted to one room but it had ventured into the rest of the house occasionally, sometimes because we let her and at least once because she somehow got out of the spare room. Cats are completely and utterly disinterested in her, I guess theyve come across them in the wild.

In fact the morning she escaped her room the wife went to put down five cat bowls for the cats breakfast and hoggie came running out from under the table to be fed with them.

One of the cats used to sit outside hoggies room for hours and would be let in when we went to change her bedding, food etc, every single night he would insist on seeing her. He went in there last night, looked in her box, couldnt find her everywhere and started crying (really)

Very emotional day yesterday though. Touch of sadness to see her go, but happiness to see what was a tiny little ill thing that would fit in your hand, freezing cold from the snow, to a full grown adult with a great new home.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Nice, Dim. A very happy ending and cheers to you.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Yay! That's cool. We don't have them in the wild here, but a friend had a pet named Seymour. Shy little thing would curl up in a tight spikey ball around strangers and make funny noises.

 

[Ferminal]

Her new home looks fun...

Poor cat missing his friend

 

[Anonymous]

Cool story Dim.

 

[Anonymous]

Yay! That's cool. We don't have them in the wild here, but a friend had a pet named Seymour. Shy little thing would curl up in a tight spikey ball around strangers and make funny noises.

possibly an african pygmy. I know a lot of people have those as pets.

Her new home looks fun...

Poor cat missing his friend

The home is amazing. We were expecting a few boxes on a allotment, not that. Shes not done bad, rescued from a car park in sunderland, released to 5 miles of allotment and woodland. Landed on her feet.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Nice story and good work.
We need more people with passion and respect for animals.
I love Igel (hedgehog). When I was a kid, my aunt used to have a big turtle in the garden.
Then there came that Igel and he uses to stay in the turtles house, together with the turtle. They became friends and hung out together.

Actually, if you have a cat that also gets food outside, you can watch the Igels coming at night and eating the catfood, while the cats of course don't like that, but they can't do anything other than hurt themself when "exploring" an Igel. So, they just learned to live together. lol

Its always sad to see those sweet animals lying along the streets, ripped by cars and grubs coming out of it.

Man, I even stopped the traffic once, when I recognized a Igel-family in an attemp to cross the street. That was not easy and took long. But hey, I don't care when it is about animals. I give it all then.

Another story is, that I was riding along a street, car in front of me, two semi-strong rowdys in their pimped VW Golf.
There was an Igel passing the street ca.50m ahead, and he nearly made it.
I thought. Then this driving *** left his line and drove to the left purposefully - only to hit that Igel. He was successfull and I noticed they even celebrated their success, giving high five to each other.

I followed them till they had to stop. Stopped next to them, me fully in ragemode (there really has to happen much to cause that), got off my bike, leaned my bike on side of the car. The brave driver opened door to come out. Before he had left his prolly car, he got my fist right into his ugly face, causing him to sit down again covered in blood running from his nose and he started crying. His mate was like frozen, while I was still trashtalking them and telling them what a sad episode they delivered and if they are proud now or achieved something.

They just locked in the car, while I was kicking bulges into the door and telling him to come out again and watch the mess.
I only heard them screaming something like "Polizei" wah wah.

It was ok for me, I just waited for the police.

End of story was, that it ended in legal proceedings on court.
I had to pay for his nose and damage on car + social hours (I chose local zoo).
Those guy just said the driving-maneuver was unintentionally, and that they actually had to "avoid" something, and that I am a crazy guy.
Of course they "won", because actually there was no reason to hit this guy and his car, even when killing of that Igel was on fully planned and actually no accident.
Somehow judge and many others believed in my story and got my point, but I was told that my reaction was just overdone and selfjustice.

But hey, it was worth it and I would do it again without any hesitating.
And I really had a nice time working in the zoo.

I even found a new "friend" and I visit him regularly.

 

[fatandfast]

Great news!

We had the opposite experience a year or two ago. One crawled onto our patio and died. I had to keep the cat inside until it was disposed of, since I didn't know what it had died of.

Glad your story had a happier ending, and I hope the hedgehog has a long and healthy outdoor life.

Susan

I remember some Germans trying to explain the spines stuck in the sidewall of a car tire. They kept saying "Eagle". I did't understand what they were talking about. Out on a training ride , the guys come to a complete stop as a little hedgehog crossed the road. Got my quick German lesson, they are really cute little creatures and have a bad habit of crossing the road without looking. I looked up Adler, still not clear on why these things are called Eagles(Igel)

 

[Michielveedeebee]

I remember some Germans trying to explain the spines stuck in the sidewall of a car tire. They kept saying "Eagle". I did't understand what they were talking about. Out on a training ride , the guys come to a complete stop as a little hedgehog crossed the road. Got my quick German lesson, they are really cute little creatures and have a bad habit of crossing the road without looking. I looked up Adler, still not clear on why these things are called Eagles(Igel)

Egel in dutch nice to read a good story after this afternoon