AN awareness campaign to help prevent Britain's much-loved mammals become casualties of careless strimming is being backed by Cotswold District Council.

According to the national campaign organiser, Willows Hedgehog Rescue, strimmers either kill or seriously injure thousands of hedgehogs every year. As ground nesting creatures, hedgehogs tend to favour urban gardens, parkland and roadside verges, leaving them very vulnerable to this type of accident.

Following a request from Willows, major manufacturers such as Bosch UK, Stihl, and Makita have agreed to alert garden equipment dealers about this danger.

The charity has also contacted local authorities to highlight this risk. As a result, Cotswold District Council’s environmental services provider, Ubico Ltd, has agreed to attach special warning stickers to their strimming equipment and has also ensured that its workers are mindful of the potential risk to hedgehogs.

Cllr Sue Coakley, Cabinet Member for Health, Environment and Communities, said: “Hedgehogs are declining in numbers across the country so we need to avoid harming them through careless use of gardening equipment. I very much hope that this new campaign will attract wide coverage so that everyone can help to reverse this unfortunate trend.”

Ubico Managing Director Rob Bell echoed these comments and added:

“Ubico teams check grassland areas before they carry out strimming work so that they can reduce the risk to hedgehogs, and I would advise all residents to follow suit.”

For more information about this campaign please see www.willowshedgehogrescue.co.uk/working-together-raising-strimmer-awareness.html