 | 15 July 2009 Accessibility help Text only |
|
|
| BBC Homepage | | |
| |||
| Contact Us Like this page? Send it to a friend! | | |
Nature FeaturesYou are in: Bradford and West Yorkshire > Nature > Nature Features > Keighley's hedgehog hero! Keighley's hedgehog hero!Think hedgehogs are just spiky, flea-ridden creatures of the night? Think again! From her hedgehog sanctuary in Keighley, Marianne Crowley says people need to take another look at these misunderstood animals - and maybe even give them a bit of TLC!  Marianne and one of her guests! Marianne, it has to be said at the start, is a HUGE fan of hedgehogs. She has to be really, after all since she set up the Crystal Hedgehog Sanctuary in Keighley a few years ago she's given a helping hand to plenty of them. And that's not to mention all the other animals she's caring for at any one time as well! The numbers speak for themselves: she started off looking after just twelve hedgehogs in the Sanctuary's first year and by last year that number had increased to 166. Despite this, her motto is simple: 'I'll never turn one away'...  "They're very shy!" At the moment, Marianne's in a celebratory mood because the Sanctuary's just been awarded charity status. But despite the good news there's no time to rest when there are mouths to feed and sick animals to keep a close and caring eye on: "I'm slightly overrun at the moment! I've got a rabbit which has just come in, a rescued cat the police were about to put to sleep...guinea pigs which were all rescued, three baby squirrels which have just come in after falling out of a tree - hopefully to go back to the wild." And then there are the hedgehogs. Marianne's currently looking for homes for a grand total of 16, all fast asleep in a straw-filled wooden box when we dropped in, and she's nursing a baby hedgehog back to health after it was brought in with a severely broken leg. Marianne says: "My real love is the hedgehogs. They come in more injured than any other animal and their injuries are appalling. With this one, something's gone through the back leg and it's hanging on by a thread." Animals, especially hedgehogs, have always been the love of Marianne's life and she admits she's always been ready to help out when nobody else will: "I used to work for the Royal Mail and I used to go home with birds and squirrels though I've always passed them on to another sanctuary as I wasn't sure what to do. I've rescued six rabbits from a rubbish tip. I couldn't take them because I was in my Royal Mail van so I came home and thought I'd drive back even though I was sure they'd be gone. They weren't, though, and so I got them home and then thought, 'What do I do now?' I'd got nowhere to put them. The RSPCA traced their owner eventually and I think that though they didn't prosecute he was warned. It was horrendous."  A home fit for hedgehogs! Things really got going for Marianne when somebody came to her door one day with a hedgehog, 'the tiniest little thing I'd ever seen' as she puts it. She looked after it but it died two days later and it was at that moment that she decided she needed to find out everything there was to know about caring for hedgehogs: "It's been a voyage of self-discovery!" But why hedgehogs? A lot of people really don't like hedgehogs but Marianne says they get a bad press and need to be treated with a great deal of care: "They're very shy and very, very gentle animals." She goes on to say that misconceptions and fears about hedgehogs mean that they're very often left to struggle for days on end, despite being in a very bad way: "People leave them far too long before they bring them to me. Sometimes they'll watch them for two or three days struggling around and then they think they'd better get someone. A lot of people ring me and say they've got a hedgehog sunbathing on their lawn. Now, hedgehogs don't do that! If it's out in the daytime like that it's desperately trying to get warm because it's ill."  Ready for a return to the wild? If you ever find yourself in this situation, says Marianne, don't just leave hedgehogs to fend for themselves - they need your help: "I'd suggest you just put a towel over it. You need to get it warm. I wouldn't suggest feeding it, I'd suggest putting a bit of warm water by it and maybe a water bottle. I wouldn't say don't touch them, there's no reason why you shouldn't - but people shouldn't touch the babies. If you see a baby hedgehog, its mum might be nearby and if you touch it the mum will kill it. Just watch it, make sure the mum doesn't come back then pick it up with some gloves or a tea towel and put it into a box. Then think about getting some help..." And more often than not, if you're in the Keighley area, then it'll be Marianne who will be the Hedgehog's emergency service - nurturing them and caring for them until they're better. Despite this, she says with a mixture of sadness and happiness, there's always a time to let go: "The way I do it, when they're big enough and strong enough to survive for themselves we put them in an outside pen and then we stop handling them altogether and they go back to the wild. You know when they're ready because when you go into the pen they'll go into a ball and huff and puff! That says, 'Stay away from me. I'm big now and ready to go.'"  Marianne's also nursing baby squirrels! Marianne seems even more dedicated to helping these often overlooked animals since the Sanctuary was awarded its charity status: "I'm hoping that now I can start applying for funding because it's been really hard. It costs about £3500 to run every year. But I'll still do it. I'll hope to do it as long as I can. Originally it was just a hobby, but the reason I've had to become a charity is that slowly, over four or five years, it's taken over my life. I'm here all the time or I'm going to get a hedgehog or I'm bringing one back or waiting for someone to bring one in. You find that your life's gone. I didn't plan this, it just sort of happened!" By accident or design, Marianne Crowley's certainly doing her bit to help the hedgehog (and cat, guinea pig, rabbit and squirrel) world - not only in Keighley but as far afield as Scarborough and Bridlington, in fact wherever there's a need. The thing that really comes across from talking to Marianne is that she cares a lot - and it would surely take a very hard-hearted person to disagree that we could do with a few more like her! Why not take a look at our pics of Marianne and her animals? From hedgehogs to guinea pigs and a tiny baby squirrel, you've GOT to take a look at our photogallery from her Keighley sanctuary! Just click on the link below... last updated: 12/03/2008 at 14:15 You are in: Bradford and West Yorkshire > Nature > Nature Features > Keighley's hedgehog hero! 
 
|
| | About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy |
