UK Hedgehog Search Underway - Populations Down 20% In 4 Years - Reuters

LONDON - The search is on for Britain's small, prickly, shy -- and rapidly disappearing -- hedgehogs.

On the eve of Hedgehog Awareness Week, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People's Trust for Endangered Species are launching HogWatch -- a plea for people to report where and when they last saw one of the inquisitive but shy animals.

"It is vital to know where hedgehogs are still present and determine why their numbers appear to be falling," said Paul Bright, an ecology lecturer at London University. "Hedgehogs have been around for 20 million years -- we want to ensure they will be around in the next century."

A recent survey calculated that the number of hedgehogs, which have adapted as readily to living in urban gardens as in the countryside, fell by one fifth in Britain between 2001 and 2005.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36163/story.htm

Haven't seen any of our normal Tiggy visitors this year :-(

The combination of road fatalities and odd weather patterns
puts a lot of stress on urban hedgehogs.

NZ's population is booming. Which is a bit of a shame, they're an invasive pest here (technically, anyway).

I've owned hedgies for several years and know some people involved in rescues in Europe.
Hedgehogs belong to a class that represents the earliest placental mammals on the planet.