In Kołbaskowo (West Pomeranian Voivodeship), an asylum was created for hedgehogs that will need care in the winter. This includes, among others: animals after long treatment, amputation or those that require additional feeding. About 50 animals will go to Jeżykowo this year.
A shelter for hedgehogs in Kołbaskowo was prepared by the “Marzena Białowolska Wild Animals Foundation”. Jeżykowo is, among others, garden with an area of 3.5 thousand m2, hedgehog boxes and an insulated house.
– There will be hedgehogs there that won't be able to hibernate the first winter without my watchful eye. These will be hedgehogs after quite intensive treatment or amputations, fit enough to hibernate, but unfortunately unable to return completely to their natural environment. However, they will have their own garden where they will be able to function normally – said Marzena Białowolska-Barnyk.
After completion of rehabilitation, the animals will be returned to their natural environment. As the founder emphasized, animals will not be “condemned” to the center. One of Jeżykow's tasks is to accustom them to living in a natural environment. The environment adapted to it will facilitate the return to nature. The center was planted with, among others: apple trees and bushes.
As Białowolska-Barnyk added, there are a lot of hedgehogs in need of specialized help. These are mainly animals, e.g. after traffic accidents or after eating poison. She also emphasized that others can also be helped to survive the winter.
She appealed to people who have gardens to place, for example, a pallet with dry leaves and branches on it in the corner.
– It is important to check whether there is an air vent and ventilation, because even when a hedgehog hibernates, its body, despite the slowdown of its metabolism, still releases heat – emphasized the originator.
About 50 hedgehogs will spend this winter in Jeżykowo.
Main photo source: Marzena Białowolska Wild Animals Foundation