Only treat sickly and weak hedgehogs with gloves

Never with your bare hands: Touch needy hedgehogs only with gloves
Hedgehogs are particularly active in autumn. The animals are looking for food for the necessary winter bacon and a suitable shelter for hibernation. Healthy hedgehogs usually survive the winter without any problems. Animal rights activists warn against taking the animals out of misguided care of nature.

Healthy hedgehogs usually survive the winter without any problems
Especially in autumn, hedgehogs are especially active. The small spotted animals seek food for the necessary winter bacon and a suitable winter sleeping place. Healthy, strong hedgehogs usually survive the winter in the wild without any problems - if they are not disturbed. Animal rights activists warn again and again against wrong help for hedgehogs for the winter.

Sick or weak hedgehogs should always not be touched with bare hands, but always with gloves. Then the best thing to do is to look after the wildlife. (Image: kwasny221 / fotolia.com)

Do not remove wildlife from nature
As the Tierschutzstiftung Four Paws writes in a recent release, hedgehogs should not be taken from misunderstood care of nature. The wild animal is therefore only in absolute emergency in human custody. "From a weight of 400 grams, hedgehogs are usually adequately prepared to go into hibernation in late autumn," write the experts.

Only treat sick animals with gloves
But if you find a sick or weak hedgehog, you should basically only touch it with gloves and catch it.

These animals are best picked up very carefully and placed, for example, in a cat transport basket and then brought directly to an expert - such as a wild animal retrieval station.

The animals should never be taken into the house, even temporarily, as the warm temperatures would lead to a rapid increase in unwanted parasites such as fleas or lungworms.

Hedgehogs are usually nocturnal
However, it is especially important to only take hedgehogs when they obviously need help: "Weak, injured, sick or parentless hedgehogs who need support for survival are often identified by the fact that they show up during the day. Usually hedgehogs are nocturnal. "(Ad)