大象传媒

Stewart and a recovering strimmer victim

Life for a hedgehog isn't a stroll in the park. If you can manage to avoid starving to death at a young age, there's still a chance you could be attacked by a bigger animal, tortured by a nasty teenager or even get a strimmer in the face!

Well, luckily for hedgehogs living in Derbyshire, one man is on call twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year - even Christmas Day - to help our spiky friends out of every sort of mishap.

Stewart McDonald runs 'Hog's Haven' in Mickleover - a makeshift sanctuary which gives injured hedgehogs the care they need before releasing them back into the wild.

The low-key operation started 14 years ago when his dog brought a sick hedgehog into the house and Stewart and his wife had to quickly seek advice on how best to care for them.

Now Stewart is the go-to guy for anyone who comes across a hedgehog in trouble - be it injury, malnutrition or illness.

Stewart says: "I find them fascinating. Each one's an individual with its own personality and temperament. It's become a bit of an addiction because once you start looking after them, you can't stop!

"[Last winter was] difficult because the wet summer washed a lot of hedgehogs out of their homes.

"But instead of people calling us as soon as they spotted them, they opted to feed them in their gardens and sadly that's led to a lot of casualties due to the fact they didn't come in to us quickly enough.

"If you see a hedgehog outside in daylight, chances are there's something wrong with it. They're nocturnal creatures so they are probably very sick if you see them in the day.

"So give us a call on 01332 603218 and if there's no-one here you can still leave a message on our answerphone and we'll try and get out to the hedgehog as quickly as possible."