HEDGEHOGS have been starving in record numbers in Scotland due to mild winters playing havoc with their normal behaviour, it has emerged. Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue in North Ayrshire has been inundated with the animals over the past winter. It has taken in more than 70 hedgehogs – more than double the number in a normal year. The animals have weighed as little as 200 grams, a third of the weight they need to be able to survive the winter.
It is thought mild autumns and winters could have been leading more hedgehogs to be born late in the year, so juveniles are not up to the correct weight by the time they should hibernate. Another theory is that late-born hedgehogs that would normally be killed quickly by frosts have been living longer due to warmer winters –leaving more of them to be spotted by members of the public.
The animals, which are nocturnal, become so desperate for food that they start rooting around for slugs and grubs during daylight hours. However, they are unlikely to be able to put on the weight they need to survive during the winter, when little food is available.
Gay Christie, founder of the rescue centre, said: "Usually, people see a hedgehog wandering around in their garden in the day time and they realise that is unusual so they decide to ask advice." She said that there have always been late-born hedgehogs, but now they are surviving longer due to milder winters. "We used to get frosts earlier in the year and this would have killed them off more quickly in the past," she said.
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http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Hedgehogs-feel-the-40prickly41-heat.5161042.jp
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