Your old newspaper could help save a hedgehog this Christmas, Chichester wildlife hospital says

The charity, in Sidlesham, said it is using up more newspaper than it's getting – between 20 and 30 bin liners a day – and told Sussex World it’s desperate for more.

Shredded newspaper makes perfect bedding for animals like hedgehogs: cosy enough to keep them warm but relatively non-toxic and soft enough that it won’t lead to any paper cuts. That sense of comfort is vital for lots of hedgehogs since, as Emma Ashcroft, animal care manager at Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital makes clear, hedgehogs often find the experience of care stressful and traumatic.

"They see us as predators. There’s no getting around that,” she explained. “So, to treat them, we have to keep them as stress free as possible. That means minimal handling time, making everything quick and simple, and keeping them comfortable.”

The animal hospital, which officially opened in 1991, is currently treating more than 150 hedgehogs – many of them juveniles – so delicate handling is even more important than ever.

Hedgehogs are usually born in the Summer, so that they’re fully mature by the time winter rolls around, but Emma said climate change has pushed breeding season back, leading to an influx of juvenile hedgehogs who just aren’t strong enough to cope with the increasingly harsh Winter.

"We’re seeing so many that just won’t survive without support,” she added. “The small ones that are coping this time of year are just not coping. They have parasite burdens they can’t fight off because it’s just too cold. Some of them that come in are just a fraction of the weight they should be, they won’t make it without help.”

An icon of the British countryside, Hedgehogs have been endangered for several years, largely as a result of changes to their environment driven by mankind. Road works and housing developments have destroyed their natural habitats, and made it harder to them to move around, so there are now approximately only 879,000 hedgehogs left in the wild; a drastic decline since the turn of the millennium.