“We accidentally caught a hedgehog by the nose while trimming the grass.” “We have a little hedgehog that wanders around the garden alone during the day.” “We fed a skinny hedgehog in the box with bread and apples, but now he’s fine bad.” “A hedgehog fell into the cellar shaft here.” Berit Knorr receives these and similar calls every day. She works for the Hedgehog Aid Association based near Neu-Ulm on the emergency telephone, which is constantly ringing. “The situation of hedgehogs is now really dramatic,” says Berit Knorr.

In her work, she sees above all the animals that are injured while working in the garden, suffer from malnutrition or are fed incorrectly – and the volunteers have more than enough to do with that. “But what’s even worse is that there are fewer hedgehogs every year and more and more sick and injured animals are brought to us,” says Berit Knorr.

In fact, the hedgehog, or more precisely the brown-breasted hedgehog, which is common in Germany, is now on the warning list for the Red List of Endangered Mammals. According to the nature conservation association NABU, research in Bavaria, Hesse and Switzerland has shown how drastically the population is decreasing. “Unfortunately, there are currently no figures or estimates for the hedgehog population in Baden-Württemberg,” says Alexandra Ickes, species protection officer at NABU Baden-Württemberg.

The decline happens silently

Since hedgehogs are nocturnal, the decline in their numbers is not as noticeable as that of well-known songbirds or insects. In order to focus more on the threat of extinction, the German Wildlife Foundation has chosen the hedgehog as Wild Animal of the Year 2024.

Given the many problems and dangers that hedgehogs in Germany now have to contend with, Berit Knorr doesn’t really know where to start telling the story. “The worst are certainly the injuries that people inflict on animals with garden tools.” When robotic lawnmowers drive through the gardens at night, the nocturnal hedgehogs do not flee, but curl up into a ball. “Large hedgehogs are seriously injured by the blades on their noses, legs and bodies. And there is usually not much left of the hedgehog children, so the robotic lawnmower simply drives over them,” says Berit Knorr.

The statement of many garden owners that the mowers have a sensor to detect small animals does not apply. “Only a few expensive devices have this. And even with those, Stiftung Warentest was able to show that the sensors did not reliably detect dummy hedgehogs in the test. And just because you have never found an injured animal in your own garden, that doesn’t mean that the robotic lawnmower won’t catch any has. “If the animals can still walk, they retreat somewhere to die, often in agony,” says Knorr. She appeals to garden owners to only use robotic lawnmowers during the day, if at all.

Grass trimmers are even worse for hedgehogs. This is often done in the corners of the garden where hedgehogs retreat to sleep during the day – for example at the edge of hedges or under bushes. “It’s best to just leave the tall grass here. And if you really want to cut it, you should at least check carefully beforehand to see whether there isn’t a hedgehog lying there somewhere,” says Berit Knorr.

They only eat snails if necessary

Since the beginning of August, many people have contacted her about discovering young or very thin hedgehogs in the garden during the day. “Hedgehogs are simply finding less and less to eat because there are fewer and fewer insects due to climate change, agriculture and ornamental gardens,” says Berit Knorr. The most important food for hedgehogs is beetles. The chitin it contains also ensures that your teeth stay healthy. “We are observing that more and more hedgehogs have very bad, festering teeth. Excessive consumption of snails could also contribute to this,” says Berit Knorr.

In order not to starve, hedgehogs eat more snails – which makes many garden owners happy, but often makes the hedgehogs sick. “Snails actually make up a maximum of twenty percent of their diet because the animals are heavily contaminated with parasites,” says Berit Knorr.

In her work, she sees many people who are of the opinion that now in the fall the animals can gorge themselves on fallen fruit like apples. “This image is common in children’s books, but hedgehogs are actually pure carnivores. They only take apples out of necessity or because they hope there is a worm in them. And that’s not good for them either.”

Laypeople should seek advice

If you find a hedgehog that needs to be looked after, Berit Knorr strongly advises you to contact a hedgehog help expert. “Only they can estimate how old an animal is and what food is good for it. For example, if a hedgehog hasn’t eaten for a long time, you have to start feeding it very slowly.”

What laypeople could also do is feed healthy hedgehogs outside – especially now in autumn. Hedgehogs can only hibernate if they have reached a certain weight. Berit Knorr recommends wet or dry cat food, which can be mixed with scrambled eggs. However, it is better to stay away from finished products sold as hedgehog food. “On the one hand, these are usually unnecessarily expensive, and on the other hand, they often contain things like grain or dried vegetables that no hedgehog should eat,” says Berit Knorr. To ensure that food left outside in the evening is not eaten by cats or rats, there are special hedgehog feeders that you can build yourself.

Even in spring, hedgehogs are now often dependent on additional food. Due to the mild winters, they wake up more often and that costs energy. “Many animals come out of hibernation very thin and cannot find enough food in the spring,” says Berit Knorr.

If you have a garden, you can help hedgehogs the most by making it as natural as possible so that insects also live there. “Hedgehogs also find day and winter hiding places in natural gardens, for example under tree stumps, piles of leaves, piles of dead wood or hedges,” says Alexandra Ickes from NABU Baden-Württemberg.

The gravel garden ban, which has been in place in Baden-Württemberg since summer 2020, would also benefit hedgehogs. “But it is important that the municipalities actually implement it consistently,” says Ickes. And in order for a hedgehog, which incidentally has a fairly large range of up to 110 hectares, to be able to get into the garden, it must also be accessible. “Night-meshed fences all the way down to the ground around the property naturally keep the hedgehogs out,” says Berit Knorr.