Found a hedgehog

Last reviewed 25 August 2026. General guidance, not a substitute for a vet or a hedgehog rescue. If it is bleeding, fly-struck or cold, phone rather than read.

Out in daylight is the one to act on

This is the single rule worth knowing about hedgehogs, and it is different from the advice for most other wild animals. A hedgehog is nocturnal. A hedgehog out and about in daylight is almost always in trouble — sick, injured, dehydrated or a nursing mother in difficulty — and is the usual exception to leave-it-alone.

The exception to the exception: a hedgehog moving purposefully with nesting material in its mouth in daylight may be a healthy female building a nest. A hedgehog lying still, wobbling, sunbathing or moving in circles is not.

Signs it needs help now

• Out in daylight and not obviously nest-building.
• Lying flat, or curling only weakly. A healthy hedgehog balls up firmly.
• Flies or fly eggs — small yellowish-white grains around the eyes, ears, wounds or underside. This is an emergency and the animal will not survive untreated.
• Wobbling, staggering or circling.
• Visibly injured, caught in netting, or dug out of a nest or bonfire.
• Cold to the touch. A hedgehog should not feel cold.
• A very small hedgehog late in the year alone in the open.

What to do while you find a rescue

• Wear gloves. Lift with both hands and put it in a high-sided box with an old towel — not a shallow tray, and not straw or hay against the eyes.
• Warmth first. A covered hot water bottle, or a bottle of warm water, wrapped in a towel under half the box, so the animal can move off it. Refill it before it goes cold.
• Water in a shallow dish. Never cow's milk — hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and it causes diarrhoea in an animal that is often already dehydrated.
• Somewhere quiet, dark and indoors. Do not offer food until a rescue advises it.
• Do not attempt to remove fly eggs, ticks or netting yourself if the animal is weak.

What the law permits

Taking a disabled wild animal in order to tend it and release it when it recovers is permitted, and hedgehogs are not a licensed species — nothing about picking up an injured one requires permission. Once it is in your care the welfare duties of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 apply to you, which in practice means getting it to somebody equipped to treat it rather than keeping it.

A recovered hedgehog should be released where it was found, when it is able to fend for itself. Releasing it somewhere else moves it out of the range it knows.