The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: graemeatwellbank on September 03, 2024, 05:41:02 pm
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I have found in the last couple of weeks 2 dead hedgehogs both lying against the electric mesh fence around my pig enclosure - on the outside.
Does anyone know if the electric pulse could be responsible? I wouldn't have thought so but strange that this happened twice. No sign of external damage to the animals and nothing is eating the bodies.
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I would expect an electric fence pulse to kill a hedgehog. They are very small and wouldn't have any resistance to a shock large enough to keep pigs away. If they brushed it with their spines, perhaps not, but full contact with the head is a different matter.
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I would expect an electric fence pulse to kill a hedgehog. They are very small and wouldn't have any resistance to a shock large enough to keep pigs away. If they brushed it with their spines, perhaps not, but full contact with the head is a different matter.
It's their nervous system - same as rabbits. Kills them instantly
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I'm hoping I have one now - one of my dogs refused to come in last night and I found her pointing down towards teh side of the shed. I thought it might be a frog so I called 'come away' and she went forward instead to flush, and got a shock! I thought the back garden was totally larger animal proof but found a tiny gap where the back gate had warped so I sent the dogs inside and lifted the hedgie out into my orchard, where there are definite escape gaps. I have a little wooden hutch that'll put out under the bushes at the bottom with water and food inside and hope it comes back. It was just a youngster.
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Many years ago we used to keep poultry behind electric mesh but stopped when we found several dead hedgehogs caught in it. Even if the first shock doesn't kill, their response on getting the shock makes them put their spines out and then they struggle to disentangle themselves, therefore receiving multiple shocks, which do kill them.