Updates
6 years ago
Petition success story! Hugh Warwick Oxford, ENG, United Kingdom 13 JAN 2020 — At last - a real moment of success for the petition. We have made one of the largest house builders in the country leap into the world of hedgehog goodness. It is hard to ignore 622,000 people with hedgehogs on their mind - at least that is what Bovis Homes have discovered. The lobbying work done by you all - and in particular those individuals who have made direct contacts with developers - has born great fruit. Here is what Bovis had to say: "In an industry-first initiative, Bovis Homes, part of the newly-formed Vistry Group, will install hedgehog highways to its existing developments and all future sites wherever possible, as part of a campaign that will also help other small mammals, birds, frogs and insects." We at the BHPS have been talking to Bovis for a while now - they even made a film to support their new campaign. I hope that they live up to their promises ... this is where your continued support will be so vital. Good words are easy to say - good deeds are another thing and it will be important that the eyes of hedgehog lovers are keen as they check that promises are met. The Times has picked up on the story today - here is what they wrote (strangely missing out any reference to you lot!!!) It is fascinating - I started this petition aiming it at government to try and get them to change legislation to help hedgehogs - and they sort of did a little ... more on that in the months to come - but it has been the developers themselves that have been most active. Are they leaping before they are pushed? I don't know. But I would be surprised if more don't follow soon. So this is not the end of our work - it is just the end of the beginning! Now that one developer has made the leap there is no good reason for other developers to not follow. So please - do not stop. Use this news to contact everyone you know in the developer world ... use it to chase your MPs and local councils - use it to make sure we create a better world for our wonderful hedgehogs. And thank you - all of you - there is no way this would have happened if you had not signed up ... why not treat yourself to a book in recognition of all you have helped achieve!
Hedgehogs threatened by loss of habitat and food in Europe The mammal has come under threat as humans destroy its habitat and kill off massive numbers of insects and invertebrates. The UK, for instance, has seen the population halved since the year 2000. Hedgehogs, Europe's only spiny mammals, are under threat due to a loss of habitat and food. The result has been declining reproduction, landing the creature on a range of endangered species lists. The main drivers of the decline appear to be linked to the agricultural industry. Large-scale farming has deprived hedgehogs of their natural habitat as farmers remove copses of hedges and trees in order to make way for ever-larger crops. Another problem is that of increasing pesticide use, which kills off the hedgehog's natural diet of insects and invertebrates such as worms and slugs. Other threats to hedgehogs include increases in road construction as well as walls and fences that limit their ability to migrate, harming their long-term survival by greatly hampering mating options. The loss of habitat is not limited to agricultural settings, however. Residential gardens have also become sparser in their design over the years. Manicured yards lacking bushes and hedges provide no space for hedgehogs to hide, nest, and hibernate. Chemicals used in residential gardens add to the threat, as hedgehogs either eat the chemicals themselves, or eat slugs or snails that have ingested them. Hedgehogs are, however, thriving in urban settings such as parks and arboretums
