Is it illegal to buy or sell or hunt for hedgehogs? Apparently not. For hedgehogs are the only answer to the plague of slugs and snails that some of us are going through. Way back in the past, the remedy against these incursions was soot - masses of it around your herbs or lettuces or favourite flowers. Messy. And where today, anyway, do you get a regular supply? Coarse, gritty sand? No good at all to protect your beauties. As for anti-snail chemical remedies, no matter what they say, you are always worried that a snail or slug killed by some concoction is going to be taken up by some lovely bird like a thrush which, if it doesn't die of the effect, certainly won't thrive on it. No, there is really only one remedy against these invaders, and it is the hedgehog.
There was a time when a couple were blessed, in a small, enclosed garden, by having a resident hedgehog. They don't know how they got it, but in a small urban house of 1850 vintage, the walls of granite were home to more snails than you would believe. They first knew that they had a saviour when in their bedroom at night, they heard a crunch, crunch under their window, and realised, by the light of a torch, that a hedgehog was having a wonderful time with more snails than he could eat. This went on for at least two seasons; then, either he died or they moved. They can't remember, it was so long ago. But since then they have once had the occasional presence of a hedgehog to remind them.
Welcome creatures. But they have their disadvantages. You can't pet them. Why? Not just because they are shy and prefer to be on their own, but because they are crawling with fleas, lice and God knows what. They look cuddly. But beware. You can see under a torch at night, even when they curl up into a ball on your porch, that among the bristles things are active. A writer in The Countryman of many years ago describes hedgehogs as "notably verminous" and just wait for the count. They deloused one and found on it, in relatively scientific conditions, 31 large ticks and 584 fleas; and, says the report, closer examination revealed there were hundreds of small ticks embedded in its limbs and the skin of its underside. This was related by one C.K. Mylne in The Countryman Wild Life Book, published by David and Charles in 1969. Has anyone seen a hedgehog recently? Don't say we're losing them.
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