Hercules the hedgehog!!

I have reported a few times about hedgehogs within my blogs. Whilst I try to vary what I write about, today it comes back to another hedgehog, purely because I am both astonished and proud of this little critter!

This little beast arrived at Stapeley in a terrible state. We were not sure whether it would be kinder to put it to sleep immediately or to clean it up and give it 24 hours. We chose the latter option (thankfully), but I was sure it would not make it through the night.  Suffering with many puncture wounds (some particularly deep), its little body was crawling with maggots. Myself and the vet nurse spent a good half hour removing these nasty maggots, some having buried quite deep already into the wounds.

We administered fluids (it was dehydrated), antibiotics (for the wounds), F10 spray (to kill any remaining fly eggs) and syringe fed nutritional shake (it was starving)...

 Over the last three weeks, this initial casualty has gone from strength to strength, and it is a joy to have seen such a remarkable recovery! Wounds have healed, weight has been gained and not a maggot in sight...a Herculean effort from such a little hog! I am proud to have been part of its recovery and am so glad we gave it a chance. I took a sneaky picture of it just as it was waking up and beginning to uncurl...

Sponsor of Stapeley Grange's Summer Wildlife Assistant Position