FOUR yobs have been arrested after a hedgehog was spray painted, leaving her struggling to breathe.
The small prickly creature was found in the back of a woman’s garden covered in yellow and blue paint – the colours of the Leeds United football club.
Four men have been arrested after a hedgehog was found spray painted with blue and yellow paint Credit: SWNS
A woman found the prickly mammal in her garden in Yeadon, West Yorkshire Credit: SWNS
After almost dying from the paint attack, West Yorkshire Police Wildlife and Rural Crime team launched an investigation to catch the culprits.
They arrested four men aged 44, 21, 17 and 15 last weekend on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
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Officers were alerted to the incident after a female found the hedgehog on her property in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, covered in paint on July 13.
The oil-based paint meant that the spiny mammal was unable to “curl up” into a ball and was left with “breathing problems” due to the fumes.
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The paint had left the spiny mammal unable to curl up into a ball and struggling to breathe due to the fumes Credit: SWNS
The paint was so ‘thick and tough’ that the spines had effectively been ‘glued together’ Credit: SWNS
Staff at Prickly Pigs Hedgehog Rescue took the animal under their care – scrubbing clean the paint off of each individual spine and administering pain relief.
Diane Cook, 51, who owns the rescue shelter, said whether it is football-related or not, the actions were “absolutely appalling”.
She added: “We know it was done deliberately, and she had not just brushed against wet paint or fallen in some paint, because she’s completely covered except for the front of her face, tummy and legs.
“This is absolutely disgusting behaviour to happen to any animal, never mind a creature that in our country is on the Red List and classed as ‘vulnerable to extinction’. “
According to Diane, because the creature had restricted movement, it had no way of defending itself from predators and could have easily been “killed”.
Or even worse, slowly starved to death or succumbed to malnutrition.
She noted that the paint was so “thick and tough it had ‘glued’ her spines together”.
The police announced on Tuesday that it had arrested four men on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal contrary to Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
It said that all four have since been bailed while further enquiries take place.
West Yorkshire Police Wildlife and Rural Crime team is calling for anyone with information to call them on 101, quoting reference 13260401913.
Hedgehogs are in decline in Britain and are now listed as “Vulnerable” on Britain’s red list of mammals.
According to the latest State of Britain’s hedgehogs report, numbers of hedgehogs have fallen by up to 30 per cent in urban areas and 50 per cent in rural areas since the turn of the century.
