Baby hedgehogs trapped in plastic waste 'nest' rescued

Four baby hedgehogs have been rescued after being found in a nest made of plastic waste.

The hoglets were found in the garden of a property in Yarm, Teesside, on Saturday and taken to the Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary in North Yorkshire.

Alexandra Farmer, who founded the charity, said two of them suffered injuries from being entangled and wrapped in shreds of black bin liners.

She urged people not to litter and highlighted dangers of plastic waste.

"One of the babies had plastic wrapped around his middle and when our volunteer unravelled it, he let out a long gasp of air because it was making it hard for him to breathe," said Ms Farmer.

"Another had plastic wrapped around his leg so tightly that it was very very swollen from the restricted blood supply.

"We're having to closely monitor them but they're doing OK."

She said the month-old hoglets were rescued by one of the charity's volunteers who detangled them from the "nest made of waste plastic".

"There wasn't a scrap of natural material in their nest," said Miss Farmer.

"Two of them wouldn't have been able to free themselves, they were very, very tightly wrapped in the plastic and it took quite a bit of work from our volunteer to detangle them.

"She was quite shocked as it was her first rescue."

Miss Farmer said the incident showed the "dangers of plastic waste and rubbish not being stored properly".

"It doesn't surprise me anymore. It's unfortunately a sad fact.

"Plastic is so readily available on the floor. The message doesn't seem to be going in."

Miss Farmer said her charity was caring for the siblings until they were "healthy and ready to be released".

She said the hoglets had been left by their mother because they were "big enough to fend by themselves".

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