Posted on 07/29/2015 10:03:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Shocking reports from a rescue centre in western Sweden about cruel abuse of hedgehogs have put the Nordic country's reputation as an animal-friendly nation in a different light.
“We are getting hedgehogs brought to us that have been hurt by children or adults,” Conny Jonasson, who works at the Kottecentralen rescue centre in Lilla Edet, told The Local.
“In some cases, they've been kicked around like a football or poked with sticks.”
The centre suspects that at least ten of the 118 hedgehogs it has cared for so far this year have been deliberately injured by humans.
However, staff say that many other hedgehogs had died before they arrived at the premises.
“I just can’t understand why people would do that to an animal," said Jonasson. "People say that children don’t know any better, but in my opinion, they should - because a hedgehog is a living creature.”
Other hedgehogs brought to the centre have usually been injured in accidents. And not just accidents on the road.
“We also get some that have been hurt unintentionally by garden tools, such as grass trimmers and lawnmowers,” said Jonasson.
While hedgehogs are seen as pests in some countries, in Sweden they are usually treated as a nice addition to the wildlife in people's gardens, and many Swedes put out bowls of water for the animals.
Jonasson said the centre receives most of its hedgehogs in summer, when the animals, which hibernate during the winter, are at their most active.
“We have a lot of them at the moment because they mate and have babies in the summer - and if the mother gets killed, then the babies get abandoned,” he explained.
Their chances of survival have been affected by this summer's changeable weather.
“Right now, it’s pouring down with rain and some hedgehogs are getting sick. If they get a cold, they can’t use their nose to find food, which makes them even more poorly.
“Luckily, they usually recover pretty quickly and we then release them back into the wild.”
It is not the first story to emerge in Sweden this summer about the treatment of animals. Last month The Local reported that one in ten cats in the country are estimated to have been abandoned by their owners.
“They suffer. They fall ill and get injured, break their legs, lack food and get parasites,” said a senior adviser at Animal Rights Sweden (Djurens Rätt) at the time.
That’s funny, all the liberals just RAVE about the wonderfulness of Sweden.
I thought you’re supposed to play croquet with them.
The trouble with tribbles.
Dinsdale will not be pleased
The trouble with muslins
You know the joke here write themselves.
Besides that, if they’re pests, dispatch them quickly, and humanely.
If they’re not leave the damn things alone.
I wouldn’t mind kicking one of these a$$holes around the field for a while, so I could ask them how fun it was.
Cute little buggers aren’t they? The Hedgehogs, not the kids. I’m thinking the kids are snotty little European Socialist elites who see nothing wrong with torturing defenseless creatures.
One has lawyers driving them and the other has spines?
They work great for giant squid jigs up here in the Pacific Northwest Puget Sound.
And poplins. Damn fabrics.
No, I’ll bite.
What is the difference between Swedes, and Hedgehogs?
Swedistan, finally a story that’s apparently not about Muslims
I suppose they have a gamey, even musky taste?
Swedes, that is.
Aren’t hedgehogs like porcupines? Make them take their shoes off before they kick them.
Disgusting people. I’d like to see the perps smacked around by large football players and see how they like it.
Swedes have square heads and Hedge hogs have triangular
My Swedish heritage wifey heard some characters on ‘Deadwood’ referring to the little Swedish girl, only survivor of a vicious attack as a “squarehead” and she got a little angry.
I told her not worry her little head as I picked up my can of beer off it.
There is no excuse to harm an innocent creature like this. People who do these types of cruelty should be jailed.
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