AN ENERGY company’s £10,000 donation will help a rescue centre rehabilitate hundreds of the spiny mammals brought to them by concerned residents.
Lower Earley charity Herbie Hedgehog Rescue was delighted to receive the gift from Certas Energy UK
Herbie founder Shweta Saikumar says, “It’s just amazing.
“We’re such a small charity, and to get this wonderful gift will help us so much.
“I really couldn’t believe it when I first heard.”
Certas Energy UK made the donation following a nomination from Earley resident and Certas employee Katrina McDonnell.
Charity and Community Partnerships Manager for the company Tom Allen says: “Certas Energy is committed to ensuring a positive local impact across the communities where we work.
“This includes supporting local charities that help protect the environment and local wildlife.
“Our colleagues are passionate about local initiatives and have been actively volunteering with Herbies Hedgehog Rescue for a number of years, and Certas Energy is delighted to also be able to support this worthy cause.
“By supporting Herbies’ Hedgehog Rescue, we hope to improve awareness of the importance of protecting our local wildlife as well as to promote the fantastic work of this small non-profit organisation.
“By working together with our colleagues, local charities and communities, we’re proud to be helping to make a real difference in local communities.”
Shweta and her team of 18 volunteers look after around 250 hedgehogs each year.
“The animals arrive very poorly, and wouldn’t survive without help,” she says.
“But we’re able to nurture them back to health before returning them to the wild.
“It’s very rewarding.”
Certas Energy’s gift will enable Shweta to purchase better cages, and a fifth incubator for the hedgehogs, which often arrive hypothermic and unable to keep warm.
Residents can help hedgehogs too.
Shweta says that many of the injuries she sees could be avoided if people were more aware of hedgehogs and took simple measures to protect them.
With Spring around the corner, and people likely to start clearing their gardens, now is the time to be especially careful.
Before using a strimmer check beds and overgrown lawns for sleeping hedgehogs
These cause the most casualties, with animals often needing to be euthanized.
Keep pet dogs on leads in the garden after dark
Dog bites cause very serious injuries to hedgehogs.
Avoid using pest control in the garden
Poisons will find their way into the food chain.
Slug pellets are especially dangerous for hedgehogs.
Make sure ponds have a ramp or slope
Hedgehogs can swim, but if they can’t clamber out of a pond they will drown.
Keep garden netting above ground level
Netting can get wrapped around the animal’s spines.
Seek help immediately for an animal in trouble
Unless it’s early or late Spring, a hog out during daytime is usually a sign it’s in trouble.
Time is of the essence, as the animals deteriorate quickly.
Worried residents are asked to pick the animal up with a towel and take it, in a cardboard box, to their nearest hedgehog rescue centre.
“Hedgehog numbers are plummeting and they are now vulnerable to extinction in the UK,” says Shweta,
“They are amazing, resilient little animals.
“They come to us with horrific injuries, and yet so many of them pull through.
“They’re harmless, they control pests, and it’s a joy to have them in the garden.”
To encourage the animals to visit their gardens, people can:
Make a hedgehog highway
A simple gap measuring 13cm by 13cm at the bottom of a garden fence, allows hogs to come and go.
The animals often travel two miles or more each night.
Leave out appropriate food
Cat biscuits of any flavour are best, along with a shallow dish of water.
Don’t give mealworms, sunflower seeds, peanuts and milk.
All these are hazardous to hedgehogs.
Herbie Hedgehog Rescue relies solely on gifts and donations.
For information about the charity, visit the group’s Facebook page.
Information posters can be downloaded free from their website: www.herbiehedgehogrescue.com
For information about Certas Energy Uk visit: www.certasenergy.co.uk
