Hedgehog Hospital

Helen Collis is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hi I'm know in my local area as 'Helen Hedgehogs'. For the past 10yrs I have rescued and rehabilitated over 800 hedgehogs within the South Wales area. They are brought to me by members of the public and local vets for treatment will multiple issues. Many come in starving to death due to lack of natural food and an overwhelming burden of internal parasites, others have wounds ranging from garden strimmers, dog attacks, and car accidents. In addition to this there are often nest disturbances and I end up having to hand rear orphan hoglets. Once treatment is completed I arrange for release back to their local area.

In addition to the hands on work, I visit schools and present talks to local groups to educate people in the decline of Hedgehogs, (now on the red list as vulnerable to extinction).

At peak season (normally September through to December) when the autumn juveniles come in, I can spend up to 3hrs a day carrying out rehab activities, this is on top of my full time job....and this is where my fundraiser comes in.

My current facilities had deteriorated over the years with water coming in under the floor and through the roof, the concrete had begun to crumble and breakdown, and the original timber doors were rotting. Whilst I ensured the hedgehogs were on suitable staging with heat sources it had resulted in a poor environment for me to continue my work.

I have a local builder current carrying out the work to create a new facility and where possible I am using cupboards and flooring from local recycle sites to keep the cost down, but the new insulated building with hot and cold running water (what a luxury!) will cost approximately £10,000 which I am funding from my own pocket. I'm asking for help towards 50% of the costs.

Thank you for reading my story and helping me to continue my work to reverse the decline of our iconic mammal

If you'd like to follow my rescue work you can find me on X (twitter) https://x.com/helen_collis?s=21&t=JWXUykfgWWsXXkN05TPQAQ

Some of the issues experienced in the old facilities: