HEDGEHOGS

Southland Times, Issue 17003, 29 March 1912, Page 5

HEDGEHOGS

DOING DAMAGE IN FOWL RUNS. ( (Special to tjie Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, March 27. At Rlccarton several people have discovered that the hedgehog is not at all a desirable visitor, and the animals are being killed whenever they are seen. One man, who had been blaming a weasel for slaughter among his poultry, discovered the real offender a day or so ago. He was attracted to his hen run by a loud squaklng among the fowls, and he found a hedgehog gnawing at the leg qf a hen that was held down by the animal. He at once killed the hedgehog, which was a particularly large specimen. The same morning, says the Lyttelton Times, another resident discovered that eighteen chickens h.afi been killed in his fowl run, and on the same night he caught a hedgehog making its way into the run. Again the animal was large in size, and again the execution of the marauder was speedily affected. Another resident of Upper Riccarton has stated that ho found a hedgehog taking milk from his cows as they were lying in the paddock. The discoveries have caused considerable surprise among the victimised people, by whom the hedgehog was regarded as a harmless animal and a friend, rather than a bloodthirsty thief. The.eighteen chickens were not eaten; they had been bitten and the blood had been sucked out of them. *