Rescue 911: Hedgehog Edition

One sunny day, Mamma and I had been out picking strawberries in my parents' field. We were already on our way indoors with a bowl full, when Mamma decided to show me some new trees they'd recently planted. A good thing she did, because next to these trees, on the other side of the fence, is the neighbours' strawberry field. In it we saw this:

A poor little baby hedgehog, stuck in the strawberry net!

We immediately called for Pappa and my brother and organized a rescue. The neighbours were away, so Pappa decided to go check things out closer and cleared the fence with haste (and style).

The strawberry net was attached tightly to the hoglet's spines, so Pappa cut him out...

...and handed the little one to me to get the rest of the net off.

The net turned out to be wound tightly around the poor guy's neck and had to be carefully cut off, with the help of my brother.

The baby hog was so tiny! And completely exhausted after fighting the net in the hot sun for who knows how long, he seemed to fall asleep in my hands as I was checking that we got all the net off. (The red sticky stuff on his fur is strawberry, by the way, nothing serious.)

The baby hedgehog is one of three that live in our yard with their mommy. We brought him (and a plate of water) near the nest and let him go. He was so shaky on his feet and had to take several breaks on the meter-long walk, but he made it home to the others.

The next day we could breathe out with relief, for we spotted all four hedgehogs alive and well, one of them bravely exploring the lawn. The rescue mission was a success!

(Thanks to Mamma for all the photos! She never forgets the camera.)