TEN breeding pairs of hedgehogs have now been released and are ready to establish their new lives in Minchinhampton.

The final pair was released on Thursday night into the safe hands of the Minchinhampton School hedgehog Committee, led by the teacher Mrs Saeed.

The committee, made up of around a dozen pupils, chose to name their hogs Romeo and Juliet.

Karen Ellis, a volunteer for the charity Help a Hedgehog Hospital has bene leading the re-population drive in the town.

She is hoping to make the community a hedgehog-friendly zone where the population can slowly rebuilt itself.

“The interest and support from the residents has been fantastic and as a result of this we should start to see the hedgehog population re-establish itself in our town,” she said.

“I now want to encourage residents to leave bowls of water out and ideally feeding them mealworms or meat flavour cat food/biscuits, this is ideal if left in a feeding box.

“Please also make access points into your garden (the size of a CD) and keep an eye out for any that have dropped into ponds or cattle grids.”

Stroud News and Journal:

Karen said the pairs will breed quite quickly and the females will be having their first litters by the end of May. It has been around 10 years since Minchinhampton had a self-sustaining hog population.

“This is a critical time for the new mothers and if they are disturbed their natural instinct is to run away and abandon their hoglets,” added Karen.

“If the mother makes off please pick her up and place her in a box and call the Help a Hedgehog Hospital.

“Any hedgehog seen out in the daytime is in need of attention so please pick it up and call us, we will check them out and when we have addressed any issues it has will return it to where it was found.

“Please also report any sightings dead or alive to help us build the profile of the hog population in the Stroud area.”

Call 07870 378 207 or 01453 823 871. For any advice or information please visit www.helpahedgehog.org on the Facebook page.