Help protect Britain’s dwindling hedgehog population before it’s too late

A parliamentary petition calling for hedgehogs to be granted greater legal protection now they are at risk of extinction is roughly 25,000 signatures from its goal.  

The petition, titled ‘Protect the UK’s dwindling hedgehog population before it’s too late,’ was started by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) in October 2020 and aims to make hedgehogs a Schedule 5 species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). 

The requested amendment to the Environment Bill would better safeguard the European hedgehog by legally obliging developers to factor in their presence. 

Ecologist, author and BHPS spokesperson Hugh Warwick, 54, said: “At the moment, the developer goes in there and the ecologist does a skim round the place, and it notes the bats, so it can’t do anything with those trees at that particular time, and if there’s a badger set, they’ll need to get a licence and do that all carefully.  

“If the ecologist notices that there are hedgehogs there, there is no obligation to do anything, because hedgehogs are not Schedule 5, so they don’t have to be translocated, they don’t have to be cared for.” 

The UK's hedgehogs have suffered a 67% population decline since 1995 and were classed as ‘vulnerable to extinction’ by British conservation charity the Mammal Society in July 2020.

Despite being Britain’s only spiny mammal and winner of titles like favourite UK mammal and UK natural emblem, the species is only protected from being cruelly mistreated, captured or killed. 

Once Schedule 5, hedgehogs would be legally protected from disturbance, with considerations for their nesting sites required. 

However, after passing the initial 10,000 signature milestone within 24 hours, the petition received a government response explaining there were ‘currently no plans to give hedgehogs further legal protection.’ 

According to Warwick, part of the issue is that hedgehogs are a generalist species, which makes protecting their habitat more complicated. 

Whereas many Schedule 5 species have specific habitats, hedgehogs use a range of different ones, including in urban areas. 

Warwick said: “For the hedgehog, you’re protecting gardens, you’re protecting parks, it needs to be done carefully and subtly.” 

“This is an immensely fraught and complicated and nuanced thing, so, the petition is quite a crude way of starting the conversation, but if we don’t have the conversation started, we’re not in a position of being able to argue the toss. 

“We’re not looking to do some crude, ‘You can’t move your garden shed because you might disturb a hedgehog,’ thing, it’s very much ‘Okay, let’s start the conversation now.’”

As the government are obliged to consider a debate in Parliament once the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, Warwick says there is ‘real value’ in signing and sharing it. 

Supporters can also take part in Hedgehog Street, a joint initiative set up by BHPS and People's Trust for Endangered Species which has nearly 90,000 registered ‘Champions.’

The campaign, celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, aims to combat the lack of connectivity in urbanised areas by encouraging people to make a 13cm hole in their fence which hedgehogs can travel through. 

Hedgehogs need to travel to find food, shelter, water and a mate, and can cover as many as 20 gardens in a few nights, so benefit from ‘highways’ like these.

A 16,700-strong Facebook group called Hedgehog Highways allows supporters to share media and information.

A previous Change.org petition set up by Warwick, almost at one million signatures, also aims to make it a requirement for developers to include ‘highways’ in new sites. 

Barnes Hedgehogs founder Michel Birkenwald, 64, said: “The system for them to travel from garden to garden is literally a life-saver.” 

A jeweller by trade, Birkenwald began drilling holes for other Barnes residents on weekends after finding a hedgehog in his garden and learning about their plight. 

He initially did so for free but now charges £20 to meet mounting costs. 

Birkenwald estimates he has drilled 800 to 900 holes. 

He said: “It’s made a huge difference, there’s a lot of hedgehogs which are roaming around, and it’s just a question of everybody needing to do a little something themselves.

“In Barnes, everybody’s become very sensitive to hedgehogs and they are taking a communal responsibility.

“I created an emotional attachment to them – I encourage people to feed them dry food, give them water, so it becomes a daily responsibility. 

“Although I don’t think we should interfere with their way of life, I found that I needed to do something to get people connected.” 

According to Warwick, the hedgehog’s ability to form connections is what makes it key to conservation efforts. 

He said: “We only will move out of a half-hearted nah-nah-nah if we love something, and the hedgehog, because we can get close to it, actually gives us that opportunity of making a point of connection. 

“Every other animal if you get too close is either going to run away or attack you, and the hedgehog doesn’t do either, it just snuffles around a bit, rolls up into a ball and waits for you to go away. 

“If you’re very quiet and peaceful and calm, and let it unroll from its ball, it will let you get nose-to-nose.

“It lets you have that moment where you might cross over the line from liking nature to actually falling in love with it, and that’s where the fight begins.”  

MP Chris Grayling, named the Hedgehog Species Champion in 2017, has since also tabled an amendment to the Environment Bill.

He said: “It seems wrong to me that whenever a developer has to carry out a wildlife survey the hedgehog is not on anyone’s radar.

“We worry about whether we are going to damage the habitats of badgers and bats. 

“It’s time we worried about the hedgehog too. 

“I hope that this amendment will encourage DEFRA to sort out proper protection for hedgehogs.”

A DEFRA spokesperson said: “We are working hard to reverse the decline of our iconic British species.

“Through our 25 Year Environment Plan we’ll be creating or restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat to provide benefits for them and other species, and Natural England’s Back from the Brink programme is working to put over 100 priority species on the road to recovery by the end of this year.”

They have not confirmed whether this programme includes hedgehogs. 

Sign the BHPS petition here.