Poor little hedgehog

For nearly twenty years I have looked forward to finding a hedgehog. In my garden I built shelters with twigs and leaves to encourage these prickly mammals with the cutest of noses. All in vain as I never saw a single one. Except for today when walking through the park I came across a dead hedgehog, about twelve inches long and probably around three pounds in weight. How he died is a mystery but he had a number of severe wounds on his underside. It seemed that he had been savaged by a dog. Please, if you know your dog has a bit of an attitude problem, kindly keep it on a lead with a muzzle on. I doubt a fox killed the hedgehog as there is a hierarchy of killing in the wild and the hedgehog was intact.

Photo copyright SvD.