Winter hedeghogs plea
The Scottish SPCA has urged members of the public to call its animal helpline if they find a hedgehog during the freezing winter weather.
Staff at our Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fife are caring for 84 hedgehogs, some of which arrived weighing around a third of their ideal body weight.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said, "Hedgehogs should be hibernating by now but there will some out there who won't survive without help.
"Most of the hedgehogs in our care have either been caught out by the bad weather and didn't have enough time to store up the necessary body fat to go into hibernation or are from late litters, which is common.
"These youngsters will be out foraging for food such as earthworms, beetles, slugs, snails, insects, fruit and carrion but they'll be finding it very difficult because of the cold weather.
"Some of them have arrived weighing only 200g, which is around a third of the weight they'll be when we release them.
"If anyone finds a hedgehog during this spell of bad weather they should try to contain it by picking it up using gardening gloves or a thick towel and placing it in a secure box.
"It can then be left with fresh water and tinned cat food until it can be collected."
Earlier this year hedgehogs at the centre had to be put on a calorie controlled diet after a prolonged winter delayed their release.
Colin said, "The hedgehogs were doing less exercise than they would in the wild so we had to ration their food and put them on a diet when we noticed them putting on weight.
"This year we are closely controlling their food intake and keeping them singly, which helps us monitor them more effectively and also prevents more dominant hedgehogs eating more than their fair share.
"These hedgehogs will be released once they achieve a suitable weight of over 600g and the weather warms up to give us consistent night time temperatures of over four degrees centigrade."
Anyone who finds a hedgehog this winter can call the Scottish SPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999.