ISLANDERS are being urged to check their bonfire stacks for hedgehogs which may have moved in before setting them alight.
As bonfire season begins, Gill Morgan and Dru Burdon from the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group are asking Islanders to avoid building their bonfire piles days in advance.
Instead, they suggest constructing the piles on the day they are due to be lit to avoid hedgehogs scurrying in.
The group said hedgehogs “love to curl up in” bonfire stacks during the day and that their first instinct when faced with fire or smoke is to curl into a ball rather than run away, putting them at risk of injury or death if trapped inside.
Before lighting a bonfire, Islanders are asked to lift pieces of the pile and check underneath with a torch for any hedgehogs sheltering there.
The warning follows Storm Austen, which has left additional twigs, leaves and loose branches that people may be planning to burn. Ms Morgan and Ms Burdon said that hedgehogs will be out and about looking for food after the bad weather.
“Please ask everyone to check carefully that they have no new residents in their bonfire stack,” they said.
Ms Burdon added that if there are also fireworks going on, hedgehogs will be too frightened to move away from the pile.
“If the bonfire is part of a fireworks display the safest thing to do is have all the people just on one side of the pile and then light the fire from that same side so that any hedgehog, if it was brave enough, could escape away from all the people and noise into the darkness on the other side of the fire,” she said.
“This is why we always say that the only safe way to have a bonfire is to build it on the day you are going to set light to it and not leave even one night in between.”
She added that the group would support campaigns for silent fireworks, because the “very loud bangs” from modern firework displays cause lots of damage to other wildlife too, including birds dying of shock and bats becoming “disoriented”.
The JHPG ask that any Islanders who spot a young hedgehog on its own pick it up with gloves, put it in a deep box and call the group on 734340, as they are usually “too small to make it on their own”.
“If a hedgehog which is unhurt is seen after dark, while it is still so mild, it should be left to go on its way. A bowl of water and some dog or cat food would be welcome,” Ms Burdon added.
