A lot has happened in the year since the Shepperton Hedgehog Sanctuary started gaining more awareness. Sharon Johnson was caring the injured, abandoned or vulnerable hogs out of her house, trying to rehome them in carefully vetted gardens in the Spelthorne area.
Her house in Shepperton now boasts a purpose built facility in her garden with room to home 15-20 hedgehogs at any one time. She has storage room for medicines and food and a weighing station. Each cage is purpose built and has individual notes on each inmate. It is a full time job caring the little critters but Sharon clearly loves what she does. The challenge this year has been caring for the many abandoned babies.
As the heatwave hit, it became more and more difficult for adult hogs to find food for themselves so all the harder to feed a family too. So Sharon was called regularly to take on 4-5 babies needing help.
The heatwave was a challenge for Sharon too. She found a way of keeping her visitors cool. Frozen bottles of water in each cage which kept temperature manageable.
The fabulous new facility came about through a huge amount of team work by family and friends. Needless to say it was also quite an expense. Not just to buy the outbuilding itself, but all the purpose built cages too. The Shepperton Hedgehog Sanctuary is not a registered charity but is self funding. To support the building project a friend of Sharon suggested setting up a Gofundme donation page.
They set out to raise £250 but were delighted to receive £420. Just as well because it was a costly project. Sharon is still paying off the cages themselves and relies on well wishers. If you can help, you can find a ‘donate’ button on her website (address below), or even set up a direct debit so that there is a regular donation. You will also find a wish list of items Sharon regularly needs for her little visitors which you can order for her direct from Amazon.
Finally, if you want to do your bit for these delightful creatures, put out a shallow bowl of water in the garden. They drink a lot!
It would be lovely to see more hedgehogs in the area.
www.sheppertonhedgehogsanctuary.co.uk