Admission and Survival Trends in Hedgehogs Admitted to RSPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres

Abstract

The hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) population is in decline in the UK and they are the most frequently admitted mammal to British Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres (WRCs). Whilst successful, UK rehabilitation is time-consuming and expensive and few large-scale studies into UK WRC admission and survival rates have been published in the last decade. This paper examines admission and survival trends in 19,577 hedgehogs admitted to Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals centres over a 13 year period (2005–2017) to gauge the state of Britain’s hedgehogs in WRCs and to gain indirect insight into the wild population. During the studied period, admissions more than doubled. Admission weights were greater in later than early litter juveniles. The survival improved 26% overall, and 33% in juveniles. Twenty two percent of animals died or were euthanased within 48 h of admission. Kaplan–Meier analysis gave survivor functions of 0.78 at 2 days, 0.66 at 10 days, 0.62 at 20 days, and 0.53 at 80 days. Survival was independent of admission weight in each age category. In particular, survival was greater in early litter juveniles than in adults or late litter juveniles; and across the breeding season diminished in juveniles and increased in adults. These data suggest factors impacting hedgehog survival have remained stable despite population decrease; that care methods have improved; and that late litters are more vulnerable than early. For WRCs this reaffirms that current methods are successful, but that further resources could be directed towards late litters.