In brief: The Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group is urging islanders to check woodpiles for sheltering hedgehogs before lighting bonfires this Guy Fawkes season. Storm Austen has left extra debris around gardens, increasing the risk that animals will take up residence in bonfire stacks. The group warns that hedgehogs instinctively curl into a ball when threatened by fire or smoke, rather than fleeing to safety.
A prickly problem ahead of Bonfire Night
With 5 November approaching, islanders are being asked to take a few extra minutes before striking a match. Gill Morgan, from the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group, is reminding anyone planning a bonfire to build their stack on the day it will be lit wherever possible, Bailiwick Express reports.
The reason is straightforward and rather sobering: according to the group, just one night is enough for a hedgehog to move into a woodpile. Hedgehogs, it turns out, “love to curl up in” bonfire stacks during the day, making them invisible to anyone who simply glances at the pile from a distance.
The real danger lies in the animal’s natural defence mechanism. When faced with fire or smoke, a hedgehog’s first instinct is not to run but to curl into a tight ball. In the open, that is a perfectly sensible response to a fox or a badger. Inside a burning bonfire, it is, to put it gently, considerably less useful.
Storm Austen raises the stakes
The warning carries extra urgency this year because of Storm Austen, which has left additional twigs, leaves and loose branches scattered across gardens and open spaces around the island. That windfall of natural material is exactly the kind of debris that people are likely to gather up and add to a bonfire pile, and it is also precisely the sort of cosy, sheltered environment a hedgehog finds irresistible.
The group also notes that hedgehogs will have been out searching for food after the bad weather, meaning more animals than usual may be on the move and looking for somewhere warm and dry to rest.
The advice from the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group is simple: before lighting any bonfire, lift pieces of the pile and check underneath with a torch. “Please ask everyone to check carefully that they have no new residents in their bonfire stack,” the group said.
Source: Bailiwick Express
