Do you have what it takes to run a hedgehog rescue centre?

Sunday 11 February 2024

A local hedgehog protection charity is looking for volunteers to help with the running of their rescue centre – including helping to hand-rear abandoned baby hoglets.

Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group is on the search for one or two voluntary care managers to take over the day-to-day running of the care facility in Waterworks Valley.

Volunteers will be responsible for all the hedgehogs in the charity's care, from admission to release.

They would also help with organising and supervising the charity's volunteer care team, as well as dealing with members of public when they phone up or drop off a hedgehog.

Pictured: New volunteers will be responsible for all the hedgehogs in the charity's care from admission to release.

On admission to the Hedgehog Preservation Group's rescue centre, hedgehogs are housed in a warm room which the care managers are responsible for.

The animals are then moved to a cold room and later an outside enclosure, where the other volunteers clean and feed the spiny mammals.

However, care managers are responsible for marking and weighing hedgehogs and deciding on releases – contacting the finder if they have expressed a desire to release the hedgehog in their own garden, or finding a suitable alternative release site if not.

New voluntary care managers will be trained on how to identify parasites, inject medication, and hand-rear abandoned hoglets.

Pictured: The new volunteers will be trained on how to identify parasites, inject medication, and hand-rear abandoned hoglets.

Volunteers must be prepared to encounter some badly injured and very sick hedgehogs.

The successful new care managers would be expected to attend a one-day basic hedgehog first aid course at Vale Wildlife Hospital in Tewkesbury.

The fees and travel expenses for this course would be covered by the charity.

If you are interested in the role and would like to join the Hedgehog Preservation Group for a trial session, you can contact Dru on 01534 734340 or jerseyhedgehogs@hotmail.co.uk.