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An animal-lover is warning gardeners of the dangers of lawn-mowers and strimmers as a Bassetlaw hedgehog rescue centre sees an increase in injuries.

Sue Smith, the owner of 7th Heaven Hedgehog Rescue, has told of the horrors of ‘mangled’ hedgehogs caused by gardeners using strimmers without first checking for animals hiding in long grass and shrubs.

Sue released a statement on the centre’s social media after a young female hedgehog was brought in with ‘horrendous injuries’ to its face caused by a strimmer, which has left the hedgehog unable to ever retu rn to the wild.

Sue said the hedgehog will likely lose one of its eyes, leaving her to make the ethical decision of whether to nurse it to a new standard of health, or have it euthanized at the vets.

7th Heaven Hedgehog Rescue had 200 hedgehogs brought through their doors in a single year.

She said: “I have been in bits over this little one. I was very upset when it came in.

“People can be so careless in their gardens. We get quite a lot of strimmer injuries because people use strimmers without walking around and making sure there’s nothing in long grass or brambles.

Bassetlaw hedgehog hospital and rescue warns against strimmers following spike in ‘horrendous’ animal injuries