The fattest hedgehog ever found by local volunteers is on a strict diet and exercise regime.
Weighing in at 2.2 kg, almost twice the size of a normal healthy hedgehog, it was rescued by volunteers last month.
Named Garfield after the lazy tabby cartoon character, she was found at Pieta unable to walk and bleeding from her hind legs.
“Garfield is a very rare case and we have never seen anything like her before,” said Angelique Rofalo of the NGO’s Wildlife Rescue Team.
Rofalo said it was the largest hedgehog they had ever rescued, weighing just 100 grams lighter than Arbuckle, the hedgehog found in Scotland in 2018 and thought to be the heaviest in the world at the time. was.
The average weight of a healthy adult North African hedgehog, a species found in Malta, is about 800g.
“When I first got her, she couldn’t even walk. She was so big,” Rofalo said. Times of Malta.
“Her legs could not bear the weight and dragged, dragging her hind legs under her body, eventually causing bruising and bleeding. Her injuries were also infected when we found her. ”
Over the past few weeks, Rofalo has been in charge of Garfield’s rehabilitation program and through proper feeding and hydrotherapy exercises he has already lost 400g and is now below 1.74kg.
When she was first rescued, Garfield’s condition indicated that she had been kept as a pet, and she had become obese due to overeating and lack of exercise.
Keeping hedgehogs and other wild animals as pets is illegal in Malta.
Her sleep patterns also indicated that she had been kept as a pet.
“Hedgehogs are nocturnal, but with Garfield, I can sleep soundly during the day,” she said.
Initially, she kept Garfield in a crate in the dark in the hope that she would get bored and fall asleep.
When I first got her she couldn’t even walk, she was so big
“Now she sleeps like other hedgehogs during the day and stays up with the other hedgehogs at night, letting them run around in the courtyard.”
Garfield also had unusually long claws. This is a problem that does not affect wild hedgehogs, who are constantly moving around, scratching and climbing.
Rofaro has been one of the NGO’s 20 volunteers for more than six years, and currently cares for 14 hedgehogs, including one mother and three piglets.
“She hates being picked up, and she hates hydrotherapy, but it helps her. I’m happy to dislike it. After all, she’s a wild animal and was never meant to be held or cared for by humans.”
It’s difficult to estimate how long it will take for Garfield to be released into the wild.
Garfield (right) next to another hedgehog of average weight.“Each hedgehog is different, but we need to help them fend for themselves before releasing them back into the wild.”
Lofaro says many of the team’s calls for help are related to spiny creatures.
Last year, NGOs received 765 rescue requests, 481 of which were for hedgehogs. By the end of August there were 476 calls, the majority of which were his 338, just Hedgehog.
“If you see a hedgehog outside during the day, lying on its side, or with flies on it, that is a clear sign that the hedgehog needs help. If it looks fine, it’s best to leave it alone.”
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