Meet Igulko – the cutest purple three-legged hedgehog in the whole Universe. Igulko is a young hedgehog with no left hind leg, probably bitten off by a dog or other animal. When he came for treatment, the femur bone of the missing leg was sticking out from the middle of a huge wound. We have been fighting to help the wound that cannot be bandaged heal for several weeks by now. Can you imagine what it takes to put a bandage on something as prickly as Igulko? Besides, the site simply lacks the skin to stitch the wound. A huge piece of the skin is missing, bitten off, together with the leg.The little hedgehog is all purple from the antibiotic we are daily applying to combat the inflammation. The medicine is purple and not easy to wash out, so he will probably stay pruple for quite a while.
As he won’t be able to survive on three legs out in the wild, once he is healed, Igulko will stay in the site for visitors at the Wildlife Rescue Centre, so you could meet him in person, should you come around.
We also have recently accommodated an adult female hedgehog in a poor condition, due to long exposure to scabies. Many of the prickles of the Mommy have fallen off and she is very thin and exhausted. Scabies is a really tiring disease. It starts as a simple itch, yet after a while the animal starts loosing weight, as it cannot feed well and most of its energy is focused on constant scratching, due to the unbearable itch. Scratching, the animal opens the inflamed skin and its entire body becomes covered with horrible bleeding wounds. Fortunately, the condition is curable, yet someone has to take good care of such an animal, and not simply pass it, disgusted by its sight.
Our prickly adventures do not however stop in the recovery room. For almost a month by now, the baby room has been enjoying Ejko and Bejko – two little hedgehogs, whose mother was killed by dogs. We had to raise them instead of their mom. Ejko and Bejko are extremely busy during the entire day. Eating, sleeping and rolling into the dry leaves and cypress twigs covering their pen, are all too exhausting and they struggle to stick these into their heavy programme. The two bandits, already quite grown, are soon to be released. We are expected to find them a calm place to help them for a gradual shift from the safety of captive life to the insecurities of wild life.
Prickly greetings to Tina Hristova, Vladi Boyadzhiev, Vasil Iliev and “Dobro hrumvane” Vet Clinic, who are the proud rescuers!
Liubomira Krivoshieva – Wildlife Rehabilitator
Wildlife Rescue Centre – Green Balkans
Phone: +359 885 22 84 86
Е-mail: lkrivoshieva@greenbalkans-wrbc.org
