Withington Hedgehog Hospital in Manchester is calling on local residents to support the recovery of hedgehogs, whose numbers have drastically declined.

Currently, the centre cares for over a hundred adult and baby hedgehogs.

Barbara Roberts, who runs the hospital, explained that habitat loss, food shortages, and road accidents have halved local hedgehog populations over the past decade.

Recalling her early days in Manchester in 1962, Ms. Roberts described how hedgehogs were once “prolific” in gardens, and that people would “hear them huffing and puffing, we don’t hear any of that now”.

She encourages residents to help by leaving part of their garden unkempt, setting up hibernation boxes, and providing feeding stations.

Listed as an endangered species in Britain since 2020, hedgehogs now number fewer than a million in northwest England.

Ms. Roberts urged that “we need to do much more” to ensure these nocturnal creatures have a chance to survive and thrive again.

“They are beautiful and they are a gardener’s friend,” she said.

“They are fantastic for getting rid of all the insects that you don’t want on your plants like green fly and black fly.

“If we all had a hedgehog we could do away with pesticides because they wouldn’t be necessary.”

 

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