AHS Direct, the East Sussex-based online provider of home and garden supplies has launched a national Help a Hedgehog Campaign
Prompted by a recent feature on the BBC Breakfast programme, the company's campaign is designed to raise awareness about the plight of the hedgehog, whose numbers are sadly in decline in the UK.

Hundreds of hedgehogs are killed or injured each year in the garden. Mowers, strimmers, dogs, poisons and loss of habitat in the countryside all threaten the hedgehog's survival.

"We want everyone to exercise care when gardening, to check long grass before cutting, inspect pampas grass and bonfires before lighting, check compost before turning, move rubbish up out of their reach and offer them a safe place to hibernate in the winter," said AHS Direct Marketing Director Jackie Smyth.

She added: "They are too familiar and cherished by everyone to let their numbers decline."

Hedgehogs offer a brilliant natural alternative to slug pellets, eating up to 80 slugs
and snails a night.

Ways to protect the hedgehog can be found on the company website www.ahsdirect.co.uk, along with a range of hedgehog feeds and houses.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society will receive £1 from the sale of every hedgehog house.