Researchers sound the alarm: Hedgehogs are now officially in dramatic decline in Europe

The European hedgehog – a valued and charming visitor to our gardens – is now officially in decline all over Europe. In today’s update of their red list for Europe, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is therefore categorising the hedgehog as ‘near threatened’. According to the IUCN, there is a real risk of the hedgehog being pushed towards extinction unless something is done to reverse the downward trend.

Danish researcher behind assessment
The assessment report forming the basis for the IUCN’s new red list assessment and status change for hedgehogs was written by the internationally renowned Danish hedgehog expert Sophie Lund Rasmussen, an affiliated researcher at Aalborg University (AAU), and her colleague Abigail Gazzard, who is Programme Officer for the IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group.

- I find it extremely sad and deeply worrying that even an animal as cherished and popular as the hedgehog is disappearing from the wild. It is a species that people really want to take care of, so what does it tell us about the state of nature in general, asks Sophie Lund Rasmussen, an affiliated researcher at AAU.

Together with Abigail Gazzard, Sophie Lund Rasmussen has found evidence of a worrying decline in hedgehog populations in several European countries of more than 30 per cent over the past 10 years, for example in countries like Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. 

- I have dedicated my entire life and my research to protecting hedgehogs and to finding out why they are in such steep decline and how we can stop it. That is why I am honoured to have been appointed as the expert responsible for securing the data needed to establish exactly how serious the situation is for the European hedgehog. This is the first step towards being able to launch initiatives that can prevent the hedgehogs from becoming extinct, says Sophie Lund Rasmussen, who also goes by the nickname ‘Dr Hedgehog’.

Sophie Lund Rasmussen has been invited to speak in the European Parliament in November at a session dedicated to the decline of the hedgehog population and how the EU may slow this decline.

Several threats to hedgehogs
The decline in the hedgehog population is due to a variety of factors, all of which are man-made. These include traffic, which kills up to a third of the hedgehog population every year. Other reasons include intensive farming and residential developments, which are destroying the hedgehogs’ natural habitats. Also, hedgehogs suffer a lot of accidents in our gardens. For example, the world’s oldest hedgehog, Thorvald, who was 16 years old, as Sophie Lund Rasmussen discovered in her research, was killed by dog bites. Research also shows that certain robot lawnmowers can pose a danger for hedgehogs. 

- Our gardens are where the battle to save the hedgehogs will be fought. They live close to us, and by teaching the Danes how to make their gardens hedgehog-friendly, we can improve the living conditions and chances of survival of these charismatic and highly beneficial animals, says Sophie Lund Rasmussen.

Denmark lacks data
Unfortunately, we lack data documenting the decline in Denmark, but to fill this data gap, hedgehog researcher Sophie Lund Rasmussen is heading the ‘Danmarks Pindsvin’ conservation campaign together with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), asking Danes to help map the hedgehog population in Denmark.

Facts about IUCN
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), also known as the World Conservation Union, is an independent international organisation whose purpose is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The IUCN was established in 1948 and is headquartered in the Swiss city of Gland.

Seven categories on the IUCN Red List:

• Extinct
• Extinct in the Wild
• Critically Endangered
• Endangered
• Vulnerable
• Near Threatened
• Least Concerned