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SOURCE: Country Living and British Hedgehog Preservation Society

DATE: July 30, 2020

SNIP: British hedgehogs are now officially vulnerable to extinction, new research has found.

The Red List conservation report, which was conducted by the Mammal Society, explains that the spiky creatures could be at risk of dying out completely if we don’t take drastic action to prevent their numbers dropping.

As well as hedgehogs, the research also found that 11 of our 47 native mammals are at risk of extinction, due to historical persecution, a loss of habitat, development and the introduction of non-native species. These include the water vole, hazel dormouse, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat.

The BHPS is calling on Government, in the light of this new internationally recognised classification, to increase the protection offered to the hedgehog under the Wildlife and Countryside Act by moving it to schedule 5, allowing the level of protection appropriate for such a keystone species in decline.