Newsletter - July 2000 edition

Hedgehog Helpline Quarterly Newsletter

Please let me have any tips, comments, ideas, problems or information which I can pass on to other hedgehog rehabilitators by way of this newsletter. Do try to send any information that may be of interest to other carers and if you are a beginner then feel free to ask any questions. If you are anywhere other than in the UK please remember this newsletter is about the European Hedgehog and that drugs and legal implications may be different in other countries.

Please note that I receive comments from other rehabilitators so when I use the word "I" this is not necessarily referring to me personally but rather the original author.

Islanders are being urged to help save the hedgehog which is under threat of extinction.

The local population is declining because of the lethal skin disease, mange, which is spreading rapidly. Five years ago one hedgehog in five brought into the Animal Shelter was found to be suffering from mange. Now virtually every one they see has the disease. And the extent of the condition, which creates a crusty shell on the animals and causes great pain, is getting worse. More animals with up to 50% of their body covered with the disease are being found. Guernsey is the only known place in the British Isles where hedgehogs have mange. It is believed that the disease entered the hedgehog population from a dog many years ago. The disease is spreading so quickly that Jayne Le Cras, manager of the Animal Shelter, believes that hedgehogs could be wiped out in Guernsey.

In a bid to save the Island's hedgehogs the shelter is launching a three-year project to monitor the spread of mange, treat infected animals and try and find a way of combating the disease.

'We are going to start the project to try and establish why mange is so virulent in Guernsey's hedgehog population.' said Mrs Le Cras. The shelter will shortly contact the National History Museum in London to establish what bug causes the mange and the GSPCA hopes that a UK university will help out as part of an ongoing project. But more importantly the shelter is appealing to islanders' to help with the project. 'We want the public to be our eyes and ears. If they see a hedgehog with mange we would like them to bring it to us. If it is not diseased then leave it alone,' said Mrs Le Cras. 'We really need this information.' Shelter staff are currently monitoring in which parishes the diseased hedgehogs are found to target the worst areas and nip the disease in the bud. 'The reason we are doing this is because there has been a drastic increase of hedgehogs with mange and if we left them I believe the hedgehog population would be completely eradicated in 15 years' time,' said Mrs Le Cras. 'We are trying to turn this into something positive so in 10 or 15 years' time the hedgehog population will not have mange.'

Hedgehogs brought into the shelter with mange can only be treated with a drug called Ivomec if they have 10% or less of mange coverage on their body. Most cases now have more than this and those that are not brought into the shelter often suffer a painful death because flies lay their eggs in the weeping wounds from the skin disease and the maggots hatch, then eat away at their body. 'If left they can be eaten alive,' said Mrs Le Cras. 'We need your help to stop these beautiful animals suffering any more.' Anyone who finds a diseased hedgehog should either bring it to the shelter or telephone 257261."

Let me have your comments and observations on this article.

A note from a carer: "Remember to be very careful when handling new arrivals. I am still struggling to shake off a fungal attack on my own skin from a tiny hoggy who arrived in October of last year. He was so small (and hypothermic) that I handled him without gloves - never again! It could be that I have particularly susceptible skin - I have a couple of contact allergies - but even so: be warned, and take care!

For information: the tiny, hypothermic, fungus ridden, hoglet made a good recovery and went skipping off, without a care, into the distance in April of this year."

I have also had contact with a carer who had problems with 7 hoglets. Tests showed they were suffering from E coli and Salmonella, 2 survived. But again these are problems that carers can catch so it is worth emphasising the need for care with hygiene when handling our casualties. The other thing to bear in mind is that these diseases can be passed between litters. Take care to wash your hands between litters and replace any kitchen towel covering/protecting weighing scales etc between litters. We also keep a bowl and syringes specifically for each litter and do not mix them between litters. Feed the most vulnerable hoglets first.

I mentioned pustules in a much earlier newsletter. They are like small white heads but on the baby hedgehogs a small white head is quite large. The hoglets can arrive with the pustules or they can appear while in care. They can be treated with antibiotics and heal over. Any ideas what may cause this and has anyone seen it is other wildlife young.

Often small hedgehogs out in the day will be fly blown and I get calls from people wondering whether they will survive this and if there is a stage at which they will not survive.

We have found that hoglets with maggots in their eyes, ears, mouth, around the back end, under armpits etc can, and often do, survive once the maggots have been removed. We use Negasunt to remove them but because it is a strong drug we tend to powder puff the Negasunt onto the hoglets.

We also mix some of the powder with water and put a few drops in the ears. A good sign that there are maggots in the ears is that the hoglet will try to scratch its ear. Indeed any maggots left say in small wounds will irritate and the hoglet will scratch at that particular spot.

One of the main problems is getting eggs and maggots out of the eyes. We use Optrex to try and flush the eggs and maggots out. Even if there are a large number of maggots there and even if some of the maggots are not newly hatched the sight can still be saved just by removing the maggots and if necessary treating with a eye ointment. So do not ask the vet to euthanase just because there are maggots in the eyes.

Elaine Drewery from Hedgehog Care suggests that when a hedgehog has a nose injury he is likely to gulp down air as he breathes through his mouth causing him to bloat. Dose with 1ml of liquid paraffin 2 or three times and this should relieve the problem

Try writing to a few local newspapers and circulate a few posters about hedgehog mothers making their nests in piles of rubbish or bin bags and the consequence of disturbing a mother with hoglets.

I have been asked if the loss of pigment on the nose, ie the black sometimes has pink blotches on it, Is of any significance. I tend to think of it as general wear and tear from scuffing around. Those with all pigmentation gone could be older hedgehogs. What do you think?

I was also asked about loss of prickles in newborn hoglets. Apparently the hoglets lost all their white prickles and were completely bald. They were being fed on Esbilac and the vet wondered whether it might be a nutritional problem. I have heard of badger cubs losing their fur when being artificially reared but not hoglets before. Has anyone seen this in hoglets being fed on Esbilac or indeed any other milk formula?

I had a call from some people living near us about a hedgehog out in the day. The caller and her neighbours had been watching a hedgehog ripping up and collecting grass for about 5-6 hours - from early morning. The hedgehog then went into the undergrowth with the grass only to reappear again to gather some more. A neighbour had had a large bonfire the previous day and I would guess that the hedgehog had been scared away and was about to give birth hence the frenzied activity in the daylight hours.

We have also heard of similar behaviour (although not so prolonged) and guess that to be a female putting the finishing touches to her nest before giving birth.

Lori Keller has sent the following.

I wish I had more new and amazing information to give to you about Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome. There have been more and more cases identified and tissue samples from the necropsies given to the group at Yale that is heading up this research. We still don't know what causes it. It is similar to 'White Muscle Disease', but doesn't react as positively to the increase in selenium and thiamine that would be ordered with WMD. It's becoming more widespread in the locations of hedgies diagnosed with the disease. We continue to try homeopathic remedies and trying to treat the symptoms.

In other news, there have been more cases of diabetes in our pet population that has enabled us to get blood normal values and other data that makes diagnosis a breeze for veterinarians. The insulin shots for the hedgehogs have helped out and added quality of life to these little guys.

Cancer remains prolific. Many discussions are being held as to why the life span of the African/Pruners variety hedgehogs are not living out their natural or expected life span. Cancers of all kinds are taking the lives of many, many hedgehogs at quite young ages. It's a bit depressing. However, with the advent of the cancer information, we can now educate vets on how to gain more success with surgical removal of tumors.

At times, a very sickly animal will make a recovery that astounds us all. At other times, these creatures seem to be very fragile indeed.

A comment from a carer: - "I have noticed a drop in the hedgehog population in this area (Suffolk and Norfolk), especially over the last winter I would love to know what is happening in other parts of the country. Also any ideas on why they are declining.

I do quite a few talks on hedgehogs and at nearly every talk I get comments like, "We used to have hedgehogs in our garden", "There are not as many come into the garden now", "Haven't seen any babies for years"."

Quite a lot of carers have said how quiet they are even with the start of the baby season. I wonder in some cases whether the serious flooding that has affected some areas is to blame.

We had a call about a mother and father hedgehog with babies under a shed. The shed had been moved at the end of a garden clearance project. We do get calls about nest sharing and often it turns out to be several hoglets piled together giving the appearance of an adult. As the nest could not be left where it was the Hedgehog Helpline took the nest and contents away. As you will have guessed it was not a mother and father. However it was 2 females - one had a litter of 4 hoglets and the other just the one hoglet. Several times all five were seen feeding from the one mother although whether it was the same female observed was difficult to tell.

There has been quite a discussion about hibernation and whether to let hedgehogs hibernate or not. The Hedgehog Helpline lets those that want to hibernate do so - especially if they are larger hedgehogs over about 800gms. However those that are poorly or we consider to be underweight we try to keep awake indeed they do not seem to want to hibernate anyway.

It can be difficult to tell whether a hedgehog is hibernating or is poorly and dying. We find that those that are in a proper hibernation are in a particularly tight ball, they will still respond to touch or disturbance.

With regard to the late hibernator that I had in a wooden box in an 8foot run in my garden. I had been feeding with dry Iams kitten food and about 8 mealworms a night as well. She reached 800 grams and I was just about to release her at the beginning of June when I discovered that she was losing spines in large numbers.

I have never had this problem before. I stopped the mealworms and Iams and gave her cat food from a tin with a pinch of Vetamin plus zinc for 10 nights. The spine loss stopped after a few nights and I decided to release her in my garden as the woman next door had stopped putting out slug pellets. She left her box but I am pretty sure she is visiting the feeding stations. I thought this might be useful for someone having the same trouble.

Is it true that mealworms are high in phosphorus that may produce an imbalance for the hedgehog? I would welcome any information on this.

The Aspects of Life Fund have awarded a grant to a hedgehog charity under their Animal Welfare heading. For a leaflet about the scheme ring 020 8589 1000 and ask for the voice recording on ext 5907 - there you can leave your name and address. To get a grant you must be a charity or charitable organisation. Grants are not given for general administration expenses and you need to send an Annual Report or Statement of Account that is signed.

The following list has also been sent to me. The sender says that some may be more useful than others. The descriptions are the ones that come with the newsletter that the sites were taken from.

Lloyds/TSB Foundation.

This site is one of the most significant funders. www.lloydstsbfoundations.org.uk

Charity choice.

The encyclopaedia of charities on the internet lists thousands of UK charities with contact information and direct links to those with their own web sites.

Charity commission of the UK.

Lists contact details and aims of all registered UK charities. http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk

FunderFinder.

FunderFinder software "Apply Yourselves" is a free computer program developed by FunderFinder to help people in voluntary organisations and community groups write effective funding applications. The program will run under Windows 3.1 or higher and can be downloaded free from FunderFinder's web site. www.funderfinder.org.uk

Idealist.

This huge global database of voluntary organisations has a good UK section. www.idealist.org

Fundsnet.

A large site providing links to grant makers and fundraising resources worldwide. www.fundsnetservices.com

To all who work in wildlife rescue centres,

Did you know that your county Wildlife Trust would be delighted to receive location records of animals that you treat? All the Wildlife Trusts (all 46 of them in England, Scotland and Wales) are constantly working to construct up-to-date distribution maps of the species that occur within their regions. All they need is the details of the species (you need to be SURE what it is) and plus the date and the location (as precise as possible) where it was found. If other details are available eg. age, sex, breeding condition and other circumstances these can also be useful.

This recording is needed for ANY SPECIES, not just hedgehogs and even grey squirrels, rabbits, house mice etc.

A good example of a record would be this: 27/10/1999, European hedgehog, immature male. Road-kill. On West Hill outside University of Surrey Roehampton, Whitelands College, West Hill, Putney, London SW15 3SN. Grid ref. TQ5245,1740.

The post-code and/or map grid reference are good ways of pinning down the location exactly. So if someone has picked it up in their garden, they will be able to tell you their postcode. Not all the Trusts have post-code software so what they might prefer depends on the facilities and preference of the local recorder. So, if you want to collect species-location records, just contact your local Wildlife Trust to check the details and who to liaise with. Of course records can come from any reliable sightings, e.g. in your garden, animals you see when out and about etc. Nor are they just interested in mammals - this was just used as an example. Any other animal or plant might be of interest to them.

If you are connected to the Internet, did you know that there is a web-site where you can type in the name of a place or a postcode and by pointing the mouse pointer at parts of the map displayed it will give you a grid reference?

http://www.streetmap.co.uk

This is a very useful web site (and free to use) for finding places. The map resolution varies in different parts of the country but wherever I (Nigel Reeve) have looked it is at least as good as a Landranger OS map and there are detailed street plans for a lot of towns as well as the cities.

See BBC Wildlife for an article by P Morris about the hedgehog in the 21st century. This mentions (among many other things) the dangers posed by recent significant increases in badger numbers. The July issue of the magazine included correspondence from badger supporters and a rebuttal of their simplistic views.

The following was received from a hedgehog carer. For adult Hedgehogs suffering from pneumonia, difficulty with breathing, heaving sides, I give the hog 1/2 capsule of Antirobe twice per day, along with the prescribed dosage of Baytril + a pinch of Bisolven + Olbas oil on bedding. If the animal is distressed I also give 1/4 of Rimadyl tablet. If the Hog is eating put this cocktail on their food, if not I dissolve the drugs in a small amount of water, lectade or esbilac and pipette feed. This has proved to be successful in all my latest cases.

The Hedgehog Helpline gave advice on the following problem:

"Over the last two years we have had four male hedgehogs admitted to us that have been very poorly and off their back legs. They have also had a white discharge from the penis, despite antibiotics they all died. We have recently had one admitted with the same symptoms as described; he was taken to the vet for examination. The vet found that the hedgehogs kidneys were filled with puss and that it was this that was coming out via the penis, he also put a name to the illness (pylorephritis). This is an infection of the kidney and if it is not found relatively soon it will most certainly be fatal."

This was our reply: "The Hedgehog Helpline has seen this (or a similar) white discharge in some of our hedgehog patients. We, however, are of the opinion that the one we have seen is a semen discharge (ejaculation) rather than a pus discharge. The discharge is pure white and does not have the appearance of pus nor any discolouration indicating the presence of pus. We have seen it in hedgehogs about to die especially if they have suffered a severe sudden trauma. If the discharge is examined under a microscope (a low magnification is sufficient) the sperms can be seen swimming in it - if indeed it is an ejaculation.

Perhaps in your hedgehog's case it was about to die hence the discharge but the cause of its demise was pyelonephritis the two being to all intents and purposes unconnected - one being the cause of death the other a reaction to imminent death.

Do any readers have any comments on this problem?

The date for this year's symposium is Saturday 28th October 2000 at London Zoo. The topic is Releasing Wildlife Casualties - ethical, practical and welfare considerations. Both Pat Morris and Nigel Reeve will be speaking at the symposium. The provisional programme is as follows:

General introduction and review of release of wildlife casualties and their assessment prior to release.

Health monitoring of casualties and the threats posed to wildlife populations from released casualties.

Habitat assessment for release schemes

Release methods - the practicalities.

Post-release monitoring - the practicalities

Reports on a variety of monitored release schemes

Discussion session - ethical and legal aspects of releasing rehabilitated casualties.

For more details contact Anne Maskell, 20 Garlic Row, Cambridge, CB5 8HW or e-mail bwrc@portishead99.fsnet.co.uk

If you are organising a course or know of one please let me know and I can include it in the next newsletter, the next issue will be out towards the end of October.

Please send any comments or contributions for the next newsletter to: