Ludo the Rescue Hedgehog

Well, this was unexpected. Although this now happened a good three months ago now, it still shocks me how these animals come into our lives.

After finding Hoggle* in a sorry state, curled up behind a plant pot on our decking back in July 2020 (and releasing Rhea** back in February), I was hopeful to avoid any more poorly creatures. Not because I mind caring for them, which of course I don't, but because we should always hope that they do not need us and can thrive in the wild where they should be.

However, Ludo had different ideas.

One morning when dropping Mr H off at work I turned to leave and spotted something sitting in the middle of the road. A hedgehog! Of course, I was excited to see one and gutted not to have my camera but then I realized the issue. It was long past daylight, the roads were very busy and upon observing from afar the hog seemed exhausted. During this time we'd had a lot of very warm, dry weather and it was very much possible that they were out searching for water.
I slowly approached and it neither moved nor curled up and so after much umming and ahhing we decided it would be best to remove it from the situation to avoid it being hit by a car on these surrounding roads that were already a sad sight of many lost hogs. I should also mention at this point I thought it was a 'he' and we had a look around to see if there were any hoglets around just in case before picking him up.
I had some old pillowcases in my car that we kept for any such wildlife emergencies and Mr H grabbed a box from work. Then I started the journey home slowly with my precious cargo!

* Hoggle the Rescue Hedgehog
** Rhea the Rescue Pigeon

When we arrived home, I placed the box in the garden with some fresh water and hedgehog food while I readied the hutch so they could have more room and I could observe them better. 
While giving them a quick once over during transfer to the hutch I was pretty certain this was a boy and he was a good weight. So I left him to rest, refuel and settle from his probably stressful morning.

After keeping an eye from afar that day and evening, together Mr H and I decided to name him Ludo! Our buddy Hoggle was much smaller and more confident so it seemed fitting that this big timid boy be named in the Labyrinth theme also. 
Ludo had a super short stay with us at the Hallow Manor Rehab (haha) and was released late one evening into our very hog-friendly front garden. We'd seen him that evening pottering around the hutch eating and drinking therefore knew he was ready. I had considered taking him back to where he was found, though with no hoglets to look after and it being a very unsafe area with little in the way of a nice environment for him to thrive in we decided it was best to release him here. 

I am gutted to say that I cannot find any of the photos from his release or much video footage at all from his short stay with us. Though of course, the main thing is his health and safety and we had been so happy to have him revisit in the following weeks. I guess he knew there was water aplenty in our garden!

To end this I feel like I need to say, as I always do, that I would never interfere unless necessary. I do have previous experience and knowledge of wildlife. I always consider options extremely well and consult other channels if I am unsure. There are very few wildlife rescues in my county and with the perils faced those who do take in wildlife are overwhelmed.
That being said, if you find a hedgehog or other wild animal in need please do call your local wildlife rescue if you have one and get them the help they need, you could save a life. In general, make sure you at all times of the year leave out fresh clean water for all our wonderful wildlife and place rocks and/or sticks in it so that smaller visitors can get out if they were to fall in.

Until next time here's a short video of lovely Ludo...