Dru Burdon, from the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group, is urging residents to dismantle and reposition their firewood to check whether any creatures have moved into it as they head towards their hibernation phase.
The animal-rescuer’s message comes following a prolonged period of wet and windy weather, which may have prompted many Islanders to postpone their Guy Fawkes’ Night celebrations.
‘You can put up a fence around the bottom of the pile but hedgehogs will just climb it and, if you light it, they will just curl up because that is what they do when they are scared. They are not like other animals,’ Ms Burdon said.
‘And when they hibernate they are too cold and are not capable of moving anyway. I have only known of two or three hedgehogs which have been burnt by bonfires over the years but God knows how many may have been burnt that we
do not know about.
‘We just do not know.’
