Hedgehog

We groggily woke up this morning to the symphony of a dog barking. My mom’s here for the week and let Mushu out so we could (try to) sleep in. I came downstairs to see what was up and she had corralled him back inside because there was “something” out on the patio. Sure enough, curled under the patio table was a bundle of spines the size of a mini watermelon. It was a hedgehog (and a darn big one at that!). The previous owner of our place had told us they were around, but this was our first sighting. The problem was that a paving stone patio is decidedly not good hedgehog habitat. And 7:00am in the morning while the sun is out is definitely not when a hedgehog should be around. The little creature seemed lethargic and not particularly well. I then tried to figure out what exactly you do with a potentially unwell protected species covered in pokey bits. After a few quick emails with the absolutely wonderful folks at Wildlife Rescue Cork I got connected to a volunteer who would meet me…