# Hedgehog protection groups **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955 "2006-08-31T18:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/21 "2006-09-01T02:34:30Z")
Why the big deal about hedgehogs? There are many more important environmental issues such as protecting endangered species/ecosystems. Perhaps these people were damaged by reading Beatix Potter as a child. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/22 "2006-09-01T06:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=antechinus] Why the big deal about hedgehogs? There are many more important environmental issues such as protecting endangered species/ecosystems [/QUOTE] Firstly, see **jjimm** ’ comment above - we’re far more likely to see dead hedgehogs than any other animal, because they remain visible and identifiable for longer. Secondly, for the majority of people living in cities, they’re one of the few wild animals they’re likely to see. Thirdly, and most importantly, they’re really cute. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/23 "2018-09-06T23:17:54Z")
Updating this zombie thread hedgehog protection is no longer a laughing matter in Britain: > [@](#): > > A “perfect storm” of intensive farming and rising badger populations has left most of the countryside in England and Wales devoid of hedgehogs, according to the first systematic national survey. > > The research used footprints left by hedgehogs in special tunnels to reveal that they were living at just 20% of the 261 sites surveyed. Hedgehogs, which topped a vote in 2013 to nominate a national species for Britain, were significantly less common where badgers were more numerous. Badgers eat hedgehogs and also compete for the beetles and worms the prickly animals consume… > > Previous work based on visual sightings and roadkills indicated that **the number of hedgehogs living in the British countryside has plummeted by more than half since 2000.** Historical hedgehog numbers are hard to estimate, but scientists think populations have fallen by at least 80% since the 1950s. > **[Most of countryside now devoid of hedgehogs, study finds](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/06/most-of-countryside-now-devoid-of-hedgehogs-study-finds)** > > Something ‘fundamentally wrong’ in rural landscape, scientists say, with numbers thought to have fallen 80% since 1950s ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/24 "2018-09-06T23:48:37Z")
Yeah. As a loyal fan of the venerable BBC Radio 4 program(me) “Gardeners’ Question Time”, I have noticed that both professional and amateur gardeners in the UK are taking the decline in hedgehog populations quite seriously. Another cause that the above quote doesn’t mention is habitat destruction from increasing human population density, wildlife-unfriendly landscaping, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/25 "2018-09-07T07:13:31Z")
Honestly, even when this thread was started there were serious concerns about hedgehog numbers declining. The trend was decidedly noticeable as early as the '90s, for those looking at such things, though the overall numbers were still higher. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/26 "2018-09-07T13:20:56Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Honestly, even when this thread was started there were serious concerns about hedgehog numbers declining. The trend was decidedly noticeable as early as the '90s, for those looking at such things, though the overall numbers were still higher. If they would just share the hedge, they wouldn’t have this problem. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/27 "2018-09-07T14:29:00Z")
> [@Frelling\_Tralk](#): > > My sister’s a vet, so I’ve lived my whole life with animals in various states of distress. So . . . are you implying she in’t very good at her job? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/28 "2018-09-07T15:33:35Z")
So \*that’s \*why hedgehog preserves are getting so expense! ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/29 "2018-09-07T18:23:20Z")
Boooo! Shame! Hiss! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955/30 "2018-09-07T19:09:24Z")
I had visions of hedgehogs dressed in mob suits and dark sunglasses, saying things like “That’s a nice garden you have there… be a shame if anything happened to it…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hedgehog-protection-groups/370955.md?page=1)