Mite, ringworm blamed for deformed hedgehogs

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 24

Mite, ringworm blamed for deformed hedgehogs

PA Hamilton A Hamilton woman who wondered why hedgehogs in her neighbourhood were becoming deformed and dying has been answered by a Wellington authority on hedgehogs. Mrs Joan Lowen was distressed after noticing a num-

ber of “grotesquely deformed” hedgehogs in recent months. She said that some had developed what looked like “cauliflower” ears and were losing their spines to what, she thought must have been a fungus disease. They had been wandering

about during daylight, apparently deaf and blind, she said. Mrs Lowen said that she had studied hedgehogs for some years and had never seen anything like it before. She was also worried about children in the area catching a disease. The children were themselves distressed about the condition of the hedgehogs. ■ A Department of Scientific and Industrial Research zoologist in Wellington, Dr Robert Brockie, an authority on hedgehogs, said it seemed that the hedgehogs were afflicted by a combination of two parasites — a mange mite and ringworm.

The small mange mite, similar to the scabies parasite, burrowed into a hedgehog’s skin, particularly round the ears and rest of the face.

The mite would not spread to humans - but tended to “plough” up the hedgehog skin, making it vulnerable to the ringworm, which could be picked up by humans. Dr Brockie said. that the mite was probably responsible for the reported “cauliflower” ears, and the ringworm for the loss of spines. Hedgehogs afflicted would lose co-ordination, become blind, and inevitably die, particularly as the cold weather set in.

Dr Brockie said that outbreaks of the condition were particularly common round Auckland and in Waikato and were the main killer of hedgehogs.