AN Islander who has been looking after hedgehogs in Jersey is set to retire after providing decades of care.
Dru Burdon (75) has been helping hedgehogs in need from the outhouse in her garden in Waterworks Valley for almost 34 years, but said she has “run out of steam” and that it is “high time she retired”.
Now, the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group is looking for an “enthusiastic, energetic and caring person”, to take over the running of it in a paid position as its hedgehog care manager for 20 to 30 hours per week.
Ms Burdon, who was nominated for Environmentalist of the Year at the 2025 Pride of Jersey award, urged anyone who wants to help hedgehogs to apply, because when she began “it was not a conscious decision” and that she “had no experience at all”.
In fact, she said that when she first began looking after hedgehogs, they kept dying, adding: “I looked after four hedgehogs and they just died. I thought I can’t do this. I just kill hedgehogs off.”
Today, it is a lot easier to learn how to look after a hedgehog with the internet, she said, whereas when she was starting out, the only resources available were not even written in English.
She recalled trying to find information on what to do when hedgehogs have parasites, but the only information she could find was written in German.
Luckily, she was able to write to an expert in Germany who could help her, but she explained that you “used to have to wait 7 days”, whereas now “everything is so instant on the internet”.
The Hedgehog Preservation Group officially opened its doors in 1992 to look after underweight juveniles struggling in the autumn, but it was quickly realised there was a need for help all year round.
Rather than for her expertise, it was because she had the perfect safe haven for hedgehogs – the outhouse in her garden – that it was suggested that Ms Burdon be the one to look after them, she explained.
While, she had the help of “a few volunteers who would pick hedgehogs up” and guidance on what to do from others, such as the late much-loved vet Hugh Forshaw who she described as her “mentor”, she said “I was here doing it on my own”.
She said it took “a few years to kick off”, but the organisation managed to help an impressive 500 to 600 in the first year. Sadly, she said that the declining population means that there are fewer being seen today.
Ms Burdon said it had been particularly “awful this winter”, adding that it is worrying that they have not had any hedgehogs brought in over the recent Easter weekend, which is typically a time when they’d have four or five, as people spend more time in their gardens.
There are many reasons for the “plummeting” population, she explained, such as gardens today being less friendly for them as they have “lots of plastic”, as well as there being “more chemicals” used that are harmful for them.
In recent years, she added there have been “dreadfully drier summers” which mean hedgehogs struggle to get food out of hard soil, and she’s noticed people put less food out because of “fears of it attracting rats”.
While the decline is worrying, she said that there are “lots of positive things people can do” such as hedgehog highways where they “can travel from one garden to another” that she has seen someone do in Bristol.
It can be a distressing job receiving calls that hedgehogs have been hit by cars or injured by hedge trimmers but Ms Burdon says she has many fun stories from over the years, and her favourite is the rescue of one found swimming at sea.
She recalled how the organisation received a call to say a hedgehog had been discovered swimming at Belcroute Bay and that people out in the water had got “on their paddle boards” before it could be “brought back to dry land on a yacht”.
If you’d like to follow in Ms Burdon’s footsteps you can find out more about the advertised role by contacting jerseyhedgehogs@hotmail.co.uk and those interested interested have until 19 April to apply.
Those applying should send their CV and covering letter to Anita Parkin by email to anita@asl-jersey.co.uk or by post to the address ASL, 22 Seale Street, St Helier, Jersey JE2 3QG.
