Because of the heat and drought in summer, hedgehogs in Bavaria had great difficulty finding food. Animal rights activists say so. This is now also noticeable in animal shelters.
Zellingen/Erlangen (dpa/lby) - According to animal rights activists, hedgehogs in Bavaria often suffer from a lack of food. During the dry summer they found too few insects to eat, as Patricia Behr from the hedgehog station of BUND Naturschutz in Zellingen near Würzburg said. Many people have brought needy hedgehogs to the station in the Main-Spessart district in the past.
"The hedgehogs are often in very poor condition," said Behr. "Completely emaciated and not developed according to age." Sometimes the animals are severely underweight, can hardly move and cry desperately for food. They are often orphans whose mother has been run over and who cannot yet cope on their own. Their poor health makes the animals susceptible to disease.
Summer is a dangerous time of year for hedgehogs anyway, said the animal rights activist: "They are often injured while gardening. Robotic lawnmowers and scythes often tear wounds that are several centimeters long and deep. Such injuries significantly extend the time that hedgehogs stay with us." Sometimes there are maggots in the wounds.
Patricia Behr said she always takes vacations in the summer to care for emaciated and injured hedgehogs. She and her husband then feed the animals with substitute milk. Not everyone can be saved, she reported. "But we already have great successes."
The animal shelter in Erlangen is currently taking in many hedgehogs in need. These are often only 70 to 80 grams in weight, said Karola Eckert, head of the animal shelter. "They probably won't be able to build up enough supplies for hibernation." The hedgehogs would then have to overwinter in the shelter to survive. A good hibernation weight for young hedgehogs is 600 to 700 grams.
At the moment they look after about 50 hedgehogs, said Eckert. The shelter has taken in almost 100 hedgehogs this year. "The current situation knocks the bottom out of the barrel."
