Stop hedgehogs and other wildlife being killed by Strimmers and lawnmowers

We run a small Hedgehog Rescue centre on the Essex/East London borders. So far this year we have had more than 50 hedgehogs with very severe injuries caused by strimmers, lawnmowers and other garden power tools. NONE of them have survived. Other rescue centres and carers are finding the same massive increase in badly injured and dying animals

Please be very careful when using a strimmer or mower in your garden and check the long grass & undergrowth first with your hand or foot to make sure NOTHING is curled up there.

Hedgehogs do not run away when they hear the noise, but curl up tightly which is no protection from these powerful tools.

There are very few hedgehogs left in the wild now. They are dying out very quickly. One reason apart from being killed by our carelessness in using powerful tools is lack of water. Please put a bowl of water outside your front and back doors.

read more on http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/strimmers.htm

This is the letter we have sent to all the manufacturers and major sellers we know about

Dear Sir

Every year thousands of hedgehogs and other small animals are killed or badly injured by people using garden power tools, particularly strimmers and rotary mowers without checking for wildlife before they do so.

Hedgehogs are especially vulnerable because their natural reaction on hearing any noise or disturbance including the noise of a strimmer approaching is to curl up tightly and not run away. This a natural defence against predators but not against mowers and strimmers.

Horrible injuries and countless deaths are caused by these machines and they could all be avoided if people checked their borders and long grass before strimming or mowing.

So far this year alone, we  have had  almost 50 hedgehogs bought into us, that have been extremely severely injured by strimmers and mowers and all of these have died. Every other Rescue centre and Wildlife Unit throughout the UK have similar horrendous numbers of strimmer injuries daily.

It is about time your company as one of the  manufacturers and retailers of these weapons of mass destruction accepted responsibility for the damage done by them and did something to help stop this unnecessary slaughter 

It is no good saying that you already put something in the instruction book, because everybody knows that the instruction books  are ignored, never read and are the first thing to be lost or thrown away.

You need to place a big bright warning sticker clearly on the strimmer or mower & other garden tool itself, reminding users to check for wildlife before using it as well, as on the outside of the packaging.

Something like a picture of  a hedgehog with a big red X across it saying WARNING Don't kill me

You should also put a separate brightly coloured leaflet that can't be overlooked or missed in the package with this very basic simple  information:

Please be very careful when using a strimmer or mower in your garden and check the long grass & undergrowth first with your hand or foot to make sure NOTHING is curled up there.

Hedgehogs do not run away when they hear the noise, but curl up tightly which is no protection from these powerful tools.

These are a couple of examples warning of the dangers to give you some ideas  :

One extremely distressing recent incident from recently was 6 hedgehogs killed in one go by the careless use of a strimmer

A Mother hedgehog was killed by the strimmer which also chopped 2 of her 5 babies that were only a few hours old into pieces. The other 3 tiny babies just weren%u2019t strong enough to be reared and all died within 24 hours. That was 6 hedgehogs dead in one go, just imagine how many others that happens to all over the country. You can see their pictures on our website: http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/strimmers.htm

Hedgehogs are dying out very fast and have recently been put on the endangered list. Each and every unnecessary death will bring them a step closer to extinction

Please start to do something very quickly to make this sort of incident a thing of the past

Yours hopefully

Derek and Sandra  Knight