Deb 💙🤍🖤

🔥If your bonfire wasn't built today - then please MOVE IT NOW.‼️ It won't take nearly as long as you think, and then you can relax and enjoy it tonight. I've seen the face of someone handing me a hedgehog smelling like a barbecue and screaming. You never want to be that person.

So many otherwise trusted sites are posting deadly misinformation about bonfires, and hedgehogs who may be nesting under them. PLEASE BE CLEAR: ❌Poking a broom or stick under the bonfire will do nothing - even if you actually hit the hiding hedgehog and hurt her, she will NOT run. Hedgehogs DO NOT have the flight or fight reflex that humans and other animals have. Their response to threat and danger, and even pain, is to curl into a ball and stay put, and wait for the danger to pass. ❌A hiding hedgehog will NOT hiss, or make any sound at all! They are a prey animal, you are a predator - they will NOT alert a predator to their presence, they will stay silent. ❌Lighting the bonfire from one side will NOT WORK. Their response to danger is to STAY PUT AND CURL INTO A PROTECTIVE BALL. They won't come running out. As the heat comes closer and the smoke fills her lungs, a hiding hedgehog will just curl tighter. Whoever wrote these 'tips' does not understand the nature of a hedgehog. THEY DO NOT RUN FROM DANGER. Broadcasting this total nonsense is spreading a false sense of security and is potentially extremely harmful. The only safe bonfire is one that is built or moved ON THE DAY IT IS LIT. Moving a bonfire takes less time than you'd think. There are lots of late-born baby hedgehogs around right now, who would see a bonfire as a safe place to nest. Regrets won't turn back the clock. The 'If only' will haunt you for a lifetime. If you have to have a bonfire, please make sure you do it right.

🔊Fireworks. Just don't. Please. It's so cruel. Stress kills wildlife. Please choose kindness. We have so many ways of entertaining ourselves which don't involve the suffering and death of animals.

The real horror of Halloween. Artificial cobweb: a bit of fake fun for you, but a very real and terrifying death for them. If you see your neighbours using it, it's possible they don't know the danger so please print out this simple leaflet and pop it through their door: tinyurl.com/HalloweenHedgeho… The fine, strong synthetic fibres of this lethal 'web' are difficult for animals to see at dusk and can quickly wrap around their legs, wings, and neck, trapping and killing birds, insects and mammals. When Eden the hedgehog struggled to free herself the web tightened, cutting off circulation and causing deep wounds. Can you imagine the pain and sheer terror? And then seeing dawn approach, while hanging there, tightly bound and helpless, only an inch above the ground but suffering slow strangulation. Aside from being stressed, dehydrated, starving and exhausted, she also had horrific bite/peck wounds to her face, where she had been held there, helpless, unable to curl and defend herself, while a predator tried to eat her alive. Tragically her constriction injuries were too severe to survive, and poor Eden had to be put to sleep. If you have used this deadly cruel trap to 'decorate' your garden, I beg you - take it down now. Please spread this vital information, and help save lives.