On South Uist in the Hebrides, Scottish National Heritage declared a cull on hedgehogs. Warwick opposed it as unnnecessary. This caused a sort of war between masked cullers and secret hedgehog-smugglers. Comic, in a way, because both parties were trying to do the right thing. SNH said the hedgehogs would not survive transportation to mainland Britain, therefore had to be killed. So some were smuggled out, others culled ‘at a cost of £1,363 per hedgehog’, claims Warwick. Warwick tagged the ones rescued to a park in north Ayrshire. The result was the same as all those years before. They survived.
As in all quasi-religious (or indeed fully religious) quarrels, some can go mad. In the Nineties in the USA there was a craze for hedgehogs as pets. Warwick attended the Rainbow Bridge Ceremony in Denver, which celebrated a Heavenly Reunion for those whose pets had died (Kleenex provided). ‘Happy kisses rain upon your face — then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together.’
Warwick tells us how to make a hedgehog-friendly garden. This is a useful and entertaining book, and unsentimental. If Warwick had found that the animals did not survive transportation, he would have supported the cull. Tough love.
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.