The nomination "Responsible for those...": In an unusual shelter for hedgehogs, 130 spiny inhabitants got a second chance at life.
St. Petersburg volunteers are engaged in the rescue of rare African hedgehogs. These tiny prickly lumps are artificially bred domestic hedgehogs and they quickly die on the street. They are bred as pets, but, unfortunately, people often let hedgehogs out on the street themselves or just throw them away, " writes. Dobro. The press".
"We are a young shelter for hedgehogs. We buy hedgehogs out of poor conditions or accept them from their owners, who give them away themselves for various reasons. We treat them, take care of them, and try to find a home for everyone. At the time of the shelter's creation, many of us had hedgehogs, and we knew how exotic and difficult they were to care for," said Yulia Dmitrieva, a volunteer at the shelter.
Hedgehogs are bred and sold at exhibitions and online. There is no legal ban on this, although in Russia the common hedgehog is listed in the Red Books of some regions: Sverdlovsk, Tomsk, Lipetsk, Tyumen and Moscow.
There are a lot of volunteers at the shelter of the Hedgehog. One of them is Taisiya Pak, who has been saving animals for about five years. In her house, she organized overexposure for most of the orphanage's wards. Hedgehogs have a separate room, in which 29 prickly live. The volunteer admits that caring for animals takes up most of her time.
"Hedgehogs are exotic nocturnal pets and require special care. They have a hard time getting used to hands and generally don't need human attention. They need to be kept in cages, otherwise they will be easily injured. They also need to be fed with insects. Many give their hedgehogs cat food. They are nocturnal animals. While it's light, they sleep, and in the evening, they start to get active. I feed them, wash the running wheels, and clean the cages," says Taisiya Pak, a volunteer.
In addition, each hedgehog needs to be touched to make sure that no one is frozen. After all, a temperature balance of at least 23 degrees Celsius is extremely important for prickly plants.
Volunteers tell stories of how a pregnant hedgehog got into the shelter. Alice, as the ward was called, appeared at the orphanage with the Hatter. It turned out to be difficult to buy two prickly babies from a negligent seller from the Kemerovo region. The woman put the two–year-old animals up for sale as a "ready-made business" for breeding. The volunteers could not come to terms with the bitter fate of hedgehogs. The gathering was opened and three days later the hedgehogs were in St. Petersburg.
"Alice and the Hatter are loyal to the hands," the volunteers say. - 12 510 rubles. This is the price of two small lives, so that Alice doesn't give birth like a conveyor belt," says Taisiya.
Sellers convince people that hedgehogs are cute and contact pets. But, faced with the reality of their content, not everyone is ready to cope with these animals. Due to improper maintenance and nutrition, many thorny animals begin to have health problems. Severed paws, diseased teeth, kidney failure and increased susceptibility to cancer are the main problems of hedgehogs. Finding specialists who would take up their treatment is also difficult and often expensive.
But unfortunately, wild hedgehogs also suffer from humans. Hedgehogs are often taken off the streets, thinking that they are injured or sick. But in fact, it could be a nursing mother or a hedgehog that ran next to a hole.
"We also get forest hedgehogs - babies left without a mother, or injured animals in need of help. Those who can no longer live in the forest remain under our care and are also waiting for their loving owners," says Yulia Dmitrieva.
This season alone, seven hedgehogs have been admitted to the shelter, which were "rescued" by humans. The volunteers fed three of them and returned them to the forest before the cold weather so that they could hibernate. The rest were sent to a rehabilitation center, where specialists will help the kids sleep in artificial conditions for the winter.
Photos: "Shelter the hedgehog" and "Dobro. The press".