Britain's hedgehogs face thorny future
Date: 09-Sep-02
Country: UK
The spiny mammals are dying out as modern intensive farming destroys their habitats and food supply, a survey suggests.
"The decline has probably gone unrecorded for a long time," Dr Paul Bright, of Royal Holloway College, University of London, told Reuters. "It may actually be much more serious than we think.
"We are looking at a decline in numbers of 50 percent in areas which are most intensively farmed."
Bright said intensive farming wipes out the hedges where hedgehogs nest and the wild edges of fields where they feed.
The nationwide survey suggests numbers have been halved since 1991 in the worst hit areas. Nearly 6,000 people joined the research, funded by the Mammals Trust UK charity and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the government's wildlife adviser.
Volunteers counted dead hedgehogs and other mammals on roads across Britain last year. Conservationists used the figures to estimate the hedgehog population.
Hedgehogs have held a place in Britain's affections for many years, partly thanks to English author Beatrix Potter's popular 1904 children's book "The Tale of Mrs Tiggy Winkle" which featured a hedgehog.
More recently, the Japanese computer games maker Sega adopted a blue and red hedgehog called Sonic as its mascot and star of many of its titles.
But Britain's hedgehogs are not without enemies. A campaign to cull 5,000 hedgehogs on a Scottish island gathered pace this summer after they ate the eggs of important sea birds.
