It's hard to maintain a crusade against these guys when they look so innocent... But we had two babies that would prowl our section during the day and the way they descended on a living baby bird that had fallen out of the nest was a bit of a reality check. They obliterated the thing in two minutes flat and proved how very efficient they can be!
Oh, I know. I live rurally so we get the full range of pests out here and I end up thinking the same thing.
We've got these humane possum traps that work really well, but I've had to pull live joeys out of their dead mother's pouches and smash their heads so they don't slowly starve to death. I'm a vegetarian with a lot of empathy with animals. It was not fun.
They're locally endangered in the UK, but they're considered a pest in NZ - "Hedgehogs pose one of the greatest threats to our unique and threatened ecosystems. ... Hedgehogs hoover up countless endemic birds’ eggs and chicks, lizards, and invertebrates. ... One hedgehog can cause an entire colony of endangered black-fronted terns to abandon their nests." It's a bit like how possums are valued in Aus but hated here.
Neither the hedgehog nor possum species we get here are in danger of actually going extinct. They're all on IUCN's least concern list.
They usually are. I'm not sure if there's something wrong with this little guy, but it's been busy foraging during the daytime for the last couple of weeks.
I had a bit of a read of this website. It seems if it's an adult and looking busy/like it's ok then it's probably not a cause for concern. Most commonly pregnant or new mother hedgehogs go out in the daytime to get away from their kids (embelishment is mine).
I reckon post it over there. It's wildlife in NZ!
I don't think there's a nice way of handling it but while we're still trying to build up contemt maybe just duplicate the post? I'm not sure what people's preferred approach is here.
I've cross-posted things a few times and it seems to be OK. I wouldn't want to do it much within the same instance, but I think it's a good way for communities to find each other at the moment (it shows it's been cross-posted and where from/to). I've cross-posted a couple of things (like that pic of the fungus I took) to appropriate international communities for the same reason.
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