Remember, Remember our Cumbrian hedgehogs on bonfire night

For most of us, bonfire night means toffee apples, Guy Fawkes and all the fun of fireworks but for our pets and local wildlife, November 5 can be terrifying and potentially lethal.

Furness Hedgehog Rescue and Cumbria Wildlife Trust are encouraging all community bonfire organisers and families with back garden celebrations to include a simple hedgehog check in their routine safety procedures.

Irene Cannon, 73, of Beckside Road, Dalton, set up Furness Hedgehog Rescue 12 years ago following the death of her husband. Since then she has saved hundreds of hedgehogs, nursing many back to health after they have been attacked or stranded.

Irene is urging people to think of the local hedgehogs ahead of bonfire night. She said: "Thousands of hedgehogs are burned to death every year on bonfire night and it is terribly important that people check under their bonfires right before they light them, because the creatures could move in at any time."

Irene has been running awareness days in public places such as Asda. Rohan Godbold, two, visited Irene's stall on Wednesday. He has become interested in hedgehog welfare since finding one in his grandparents' garden and took home a blue, woolly hedgehog from Irene's stall. Irene said: "The earlier we can get people interested the better, both my grandchildren have grown up around hedgehogs and they love them."

Irene takes in hedgehogs from all over south Cumbria and is urging people who see any baby hedgehogs who weigh 400 grams or less to bring them straight to her hedgehog rescue centre at her home. She said: "I have a lot of baby hedgehogs I'm taking care of at the moment. Those baby hedgehogs who haven't grown big enough will not make it through the winter so please bring them in.

"People also stop leaving food out for the hedgehogs during winter because they think they are hibernating. This is not always the case, sometimes hedgehogs will only hibernate for a week or so and sometimes they hibernate as late as January, so keep leaving out the food for your neighbourhood hedgehogs."

The Cumbria Wildlife Trust is advising people to make some simple checks to make this weekend. Peter Bullard, director of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: “Hedgehogs use twigs, leaves and dry grasses to build a cosy winter nest and may move to a new site at least once during the winter months.

"To a sleepy hedgehog, a ready-made nest such as a compost heap or a pile of timber seems ideal and a newly built bonfire will look like the perfect place to bed down, please remember the following steps this weekend."

1. Try and build the bonfire as close to the night as possible to reduce the chance of a hedgehog moving in.

2. Ideally make your pile of material next to the bonfire site and rebuild the stack prior to lighting.

3. Before lighting, search the bonfire for hibernating creatures using a torch and rake, to gently pull back twigs or vegetation.

4. Move any hedgehogs found to a ready-made hedgehog box or somewhere dry and safe away from the fire.

5. If possible, before bonfire night create an alternative hedgehog home by placing some hedgehog boxes in the surrounding area or raking up grass cuttings or autumn leaves into a pile a safe distance from the fire. Hopefully the hedgehogs will occupy these rather than the bonfire.

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Hedgehog Factfile

1. The hedgehog is the UK's only spine-covered mammal (up to 7,000 spines), giving it formidable protection when it curls into a ball.

2. Hedgehogs or ‘urchins’ as they are also known, have changed little over the last 15 million years. Their ancestors roamed the earth before mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers.

3. New-born hedgehogs are born with their spines under their skins – they emerge when they are a few hours old.

4. The hedgehog is a nocturnal creature, using its strong sense of smell to guide it through the dark, often traveling as far as two miles per night.

5. The once-common hedgehog is now under threat from development and habitat loss caused by the reduction of hedgerows and increase in intensification of our agricultural landscapes.

6. In just the last 10 years, hedgehog numbers have fallen by 30 per cent, and there are now thought to be fewer than one million left in the UK. They are disappearing from our countryside as fast as tigers are worldwide.