In celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, UK residents light up bonfires.
But officials have sent out warnings asking people to look for sleeping hedgehogs who may have been seeking a warm place to sleep and may accidentally get set on fire in their nests.
Apparently, hundreds of hedgehogs die accidentally due to bonfire deaths.
Some suggestions:
- Build the bonfire as close to the night as possible so there’s less chance of a hedgehog moving in.
- Make your pile of material next to the bonfire site and re-build the stack before lighting it.
- Search the bonfire for hibernating creatures using a torch and rake before starting the fire.
- Move any hedgehogs found to a ready-made hedgehog box or somewhere dry and safe away from the fire.
Before bonfire night make an alternative hedgehog home by raking up grass cuttings or autumn leaves into a pile a safe distance from the fire.
Hopefully sleepy hogs will choose to snooze there instead of the bonfire.
Hedgehogs are great friends to gardeners and a natural pest-killer. However, their numbers are in decline and accidentally setting them alight won’t help.
After bonfire night is over, homeowners can create a hedgehog haven in their garden with leafy, twiggy places for hibernation and small piles of logs or leaves.
