Because their mother died after an accident with a lawn mower, eight baby hedgehogs were in danger of starving to death. But a cat, of all people, took them in and saved their lives.
Vladivostok/Russia – Animal protection organizations have long warned against robotic lawnmowers, which can be a great danger* to hedgehogs. The spiny animals curl up into a ball when they feel unsafe instead of fleeing. With deadly consequences, because the machine makes no distinction between grass and hedgehogs* when mowing.
For a hedgehog in Vladivostok, Russia, however, it was no advantage that a human was guiding the lawnmower, because the latter overlooked the animal and caught it so dangerously on the head with the machine that it died as a result. Particularly tragic: the female hedgehog had given birth to eight babies shortly before, who were now completely helpless without their mother’s help.
Without their mother, the eight baby hedgehogs were in danger of starving to death
Fortunately for the little animals, they were discovered in time and brought to the zoo of the Sadgorod region. The keepers there are devotedly trying to bring the baby hedgehogs back to health. However, as einfachschoen.de reports, this was not an easy undertaking.
The eight baby hedgehogs did not want to be fed either with a syringe or a bottle, nor did they eat on their own. To stimulate their digestion, the animal keepers even placed them on a heating pad at night – but nothing helped. Without their mother, the baby hedgehogs simply wouldn’t eat.
“They didn’t eat anything on their own,” Alyona Asnowina, the deputy director from Sadgorod Zooach two einfachschoen.de is quoted as saying. “After two days, they became hungry.” But then the Russian had an idea. Her cat had been nursing her own babies shortly before – and was therefore still able to give milk. “I grabbed her and quickly took her to the hedgehogs,” says Alyona Asnowina.
And it’s hard to believe, but it’s true: due to the body heat and the smell of milk, the baby hedgehogs reacted immediately. “Surprisingly, my cat also immediately knew how to behave. She laid down relaxed and suckled them,” the Russian tells.
Cat mother takes the eight hedgehog babies and saves their lives
