This is a first, but I should communicate this issue as it's actually a serious hazard for wild hedgehogs.
We recently received a rescued hedgehog from Harpenden that had somehow gotten stuck inside a walking boot. The person who called in the rescue mentioned the boots were in his shed and he'd gone to use them for the first time this year. However to his surprise there was a small hedgehog that had decided to crawl inside the boot as a nice place to snuggle up for a sleep.
The issue with this type of boot is the material used in the lining had lots of small holes in it so as the hedgehog curled up inside the boot, it's spines had gotten caught up and it could not escape. It was trapped. A tiny 150g ish hedgehog which we had a great deal or trouble getting out was inside. We eventually managed to scoop the hedgehog out with a spoon, slowly edging the spoon around its spines to eventually free them from the material. The poor thing was very emaciated. This was a success story as the hedgehog was freed but there was no way it could ever have gotten out by itself.
Thank you to Rick for the rescue call and for leaving his boot with us.
Hornbeam Wood Hedgehog Sanctuary (http://www.hwhs.org.uk)
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