The Monmouth Volunteer Hedgehog First Response Unit, launched back in January 2024 by award-winning teenage hedgehog champion Dylan Allman in collaboration with support from the Wye Valley National Landscape Sustainable Development Fund, have been incredibly busy taking calls and helping rescue poorly or injured hedgehogs in and around the Monmouth and Chepstow areas.

However, the team are now in need of new volunteers to help take calls on the hotline, and/or transport poorly hedgehogs to rescue centres. 

All training and equipment will be provided, but volunteers must have a genuine desire to learn about hedgehogs, some regular free time, and their own transport if they want to help with the actual rescues.

Hedgehog champion Dylan Allman said :”Since its launch in January, we have taken over 40 calls, leading to more than 30 rescue situations where volunteers have gone out to assess/triage the hedgehog in need, and liaise with the finder and rescue centres. The initiative plays an important role in raising awareness about when hedgehogs do and don’t need rescuing, as well as giving finders the knowledge to take the right steps that give a hedgehog the best chance of survival, ultimately contributing to a reduction in the decline of local hedgehog populations through rescue, rehabilitation, and in due course release back into the wild or supported gardens.

Interested volunteers should email [email protected] in the first instance for more information.

The Hedgehog FRU aims to ensure better provision of support for poorly and/or injured hedgehogs to get the care they need more quickly in the Wye Valley area. It operates using a 24-hour voicemail system on the dedicated hotline 01600 605125, with trained volunteers responding to calls on a rota basis. Last year, Dylan was interviewed live by Martha Kearney on Radio 4, then appeared on Kay Burley’s Breakfast Show on Sky News on April 6th. He has been raising awareness of the plight of the UK’s hedgehogs, which have declined in numbers from 30 million in the 1950s to around one million today.