“It takes over your life,” says Tracy Dunne wryly, scooping a baby hedgehog from an incubator – one of two survivors from a litter of four dug up by a dog in a garden.
And she should know: Ten years ago she started caring for just a couple of hogs in her three-bedroom home. A few years later, all the bedrooms were full of hogs.
Despite having several back operations and finding it difficult to stand for long, she bustles around the new Dorset Hedgehog Rescue sanctuary, based on a farm between Bere Regis, Briantspuddle and Milborne St Andrew, making sure the hogs and hoglets have the best chance of survival.
There are still some hogs at home – Tracy had been up feeding them in the night before I visited. But most of the rescues are in their cages in the new sanctuary, which opened last month.

Tracy almost quit rescuing the creatures when her first op was scheduled. But Kay Piper stepped in and took over. Both volunteers, they spend countless hours every week tending to the animals – whose numbers are declining so fast they are at risk of extinction. Between 2000 – 2014 hedgehog populations declined by over half in the countryside and nearly a third in cities and suburbs.
“Hedges are disappearing and so are hedgehogs,” said Kay.
All the money to fund the rescue until now has come from the volunteers’ own pockets and their tireless fundraising. Tracy’s husband Jim Dunne would regularly spend his entire veteran’s pension on rescuing poorly hogs and rehabilitating them. They don’t go on holiday, having been the recipients of a menagerie of rescued creatures, from parrots to degus to cats, as well as poorly hedgehogs over the years.

After nine years of self-funding and fundraising however, the charity – formerly called Hamworthy Hedgehog Rescue – received a fantastic surprise last year, when they were left half of Dorset man Derek Cook’s estate. The other half went to Liberty’s Owl, Raptor & Reptile Centre in Ringwood.

Tracy said: “Unlike Liberty’s though, we cannot access government grants because although hedgehogs are on the red list they aren’t a protected species.”
The money enabled them to move the incubators, boxes of cat food, plastic cages and medical supplies to a historic barn on the B3390. Two rows of cages – one for the ladies and one for the gents lest the critters smell each other and get a bit fruity – are starting to fill up already.
The rescue can take in up to 100 hogs at a time. Many come in with lungworm, which is fairly easily treated. Others have been poisoned by pesticides – not so easy to treat.

“You can tell when a hedgehog has eaten a slug poisoned by pellets,” said Kay. “Its poo is blue. If only people didn’t use slug pellets and pesticides the hedgehogs would be much safer out there.”
Many come in with missing limbs, having been attacked by dogs or other wildlife. Most are dehydrated, as so little water is left out for them in people’s gardens – an easy way to support your local hedgehog population.
Kay and Tracy’s gardens feature all the hedgehog-friendly adornments you might expect, with multiple hedgehog houses (so easy to make, or you can buy them), bowls of water and food to bolster the nocturnal visitors.
Kay said: “There are various ways people can stop other animals such as cats and rats eating the food.
“I have a curved pipe I put food in, which stops cats getting in, and if you hang strips of rustly material like a crisp packet at the entrance to it the rats won’t go in there. Hedgehogs don’t care about the rustling – but rats don’t like it. Other people swear by little windmills to deter rats.”
The rescue costs £275 a day to run – £100,000 a year. But it can provide sanctuary for up to 750 hogs. Food costs are relatively low, as each hog will eat one pouch of cat food and handful of dry food (only feed them meat in jelly or meaty dry food – not fish or gravy, or their bowels won’t thank you). But the vet fees can be steep.
“We do get a reduced rate,” said Kay. But it’s still a lot.”

And they could do with more regular help, and help with manning stalls to raise funds and awareness at Dorset’s many events.
Donations of food, old newspapers, money and time are all welcomed.

The centre is holding a grand opening day on Sunday, June 29 from 10am-4pm, where you can look around and meet some of the prickly guests.
This will be the only opportunity for members of the public to be shown around the rescue in small groups.
There will be stalls available to browse and delicious food to purchase, as well as plenty of hedgehog merchandise to buy.
If you are interested in taking a stall at this event, or have any questions, please contact Sally Collins on Facebook or email sally@yellowboxcom.com
To donate, volunteer or learn more about making your garden hedgehog friendly go to dorsethedge hogrescue.org, email info@dorsethedgehogrescue.org or call 01929 290112.
Find the centre: What 3 Words: ///waistcoat.helping.reassured
If you have found a sick or injured hedgehog call them immediately on 01929 290112 – (24 hours).