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05
Oct
The Nidderdale couple running a 'hog-spital' for hedgehogs
A hedgehog rescue centre based in Nidderdale will be celebrating a significant milestone this November – 10 years of rehabilitating and releasing hundreds of the creatures across the region.
Hedgehog Appreciation Prickly Pals Yorkshire – otherwise known as HAPPY – was first founded in 2014, by Peter and Jacqui Morrell.
Together, the couple estimate they rescue around 250-300 hedgehogs a year – and that’s not counting the other animals they’ve looked after, which includes guinea pigs, rabbits, cats and even birds in the past.
A lifelong love for animals
Growing up, Jacqui always had a strong affinity for animals, taking in many waifs and strays to look after as a child.
Her expertise in all things hedgehog didn’t come to fruition until adulthood; her family was living in Ripon at the time, and she happened to be fostering for The Bilton Hogspital, a centre run by Teresa Marshall.
She explained:
As it is in Ripon, word got around. My daughter’s friend found a hedgehog, and my daughter told her ‘my mum knows all about them’.
My husband I decided to go down to Vale Wildlife Hospital in Tewksbury to take a hedgehog rehabilitation course and find out more.
He's just as into it, and he's rescued all sort of animals in the past. Some husbands bring home flowers and chocolates - I get hedgehogs and pigeons.
At first a part-time service, a period of ill health meant that Jacqui had to leave her job at North Yorkshire County Council, allowing her to dedicate herself full-time to HAPPY.
Peter still works Monday-Friday but can often be seen stopping off at local vet practices on his commute home, to pick up hedgehogs in the 'hog-mobile'.
Even after a decade of rescuing the creatures, there are some survival stories that stand out to Jacqui as especially memorable. She can still vividly remember one call the couple received from a canoeist in Knaresborough who had found a hedgehog floating in the Nidd.
(Image: Unsplash)
He [the canoeist] had seen something moving around in the water and he swam out to the middle of the river to save this poor little hedgehog that was swimming round and round in circles.
So we called her Flo, and we looked after until she was ready to be released. The guy who saved her kept in touch and when we said we were letting her go, he asked if he could say goodbye.
He came across to the house and I can still picture him, this big burly chap, and he was saying goodbye with tears in his eyes.
It was wonderful to see that he cared so much about this little hedgehog that he rescued – without him she would have drowned without a shadow of a doubt.
'Vulnerable to extinction'
In July 2020, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature put hedgehogs on its Red List for British Mammals classified as being 'vulnerable to extinction'.
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species suggested there is ‘now considerable evidence for a dramatic decline in recent years, with around a third of the national population lost since the millennium.’
This is due to a range of factors, including the urbanisation of green belt areas, which can disrupt local ecosystems. Jacqui cites new build estates, such as the ones around Boroughbridge and Knaresborough, as ‘not being built with natural habitats in mind’.
She explained:
Often new builds will have rows of gardens. However, the problem is that there are no gaps in the fences for the hedgehogs to get through, so they can get stuck.
That’s why Hedgehog Highways – gaps under fencing in the corner of adjoining gardens – are so helpful. Some estates are now being built with that already added in, but many aren’t.
It’s easy enough for people to make a gap themselves and encourage their neighbours to do the same.
(L) Building the indoor area for the hedgehogs (R) They then move outside before being released
Another popular feature of new garden renovations that can cause a risk to hedgehogs, and other wildlife, is artificial grass.
Not only can it restrict access to insects such as worms, which provide a source of food for many animals, but it also contributes to heat absorption, leading to higher temperatures in a garden, and burn hazards for any animals walking across.
The most dangerous time of year
According to Jacqui, the most dangerous time of year for local wildlife is fast approaching – Halloween and Bonfire Night. For the latter, the fright that fireworks cause is well documented, but perhaps lesser known is the risk that bonfires pose.
Jacqui said:
When bonfires are built ahead of time, animals can burrow right into the middle of them, to hide or sleep.
We want to encourage people to check their bonfires before they light them and make sure there’s nothing in there. No creature deserves to be burnt alive.
For Halloween, it’s not necessarily children being out later trick or treating and coming across hedgehogs and other nocturnal animals, but rather decorations such as plastic cobwebs which they can become tangled in, or choke on.
However, Jacqui is encouraged by the younger generation’s 'understanding and compassion' when it comes to protecting wildlife.
We do talks at local groups in the area to raise awareness, and we recently did Pateley Bridge Guides.
The girls were really knowledgeable, and they were very concerned with climate change, and people not picking up rubbish.
It was great – they’re all going to go away from Guides and tell their friends about how hedgehogs shouldn’t be out in the daytime, and what to look out for.
(Image: Unsplash)
HAPPY to help
Peter and Jacqui now live in Nidderdale, and the move enabled them to have more space for their ‘hog-spital’, including a shed to and outdoor hutch space.
Both feel that without the support of the community, they could not have continued to run HAPPY. This includes local vets, other rescue centres, both in the local area and further afield, and members of the public ‘doing their bit’.
Jacqui added:
People in Ripon have been so supportive, and we get a lot of support from other rescues – we all help each other, that’s what it’s all about.
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