Amazing Grace is a hedgehog. She came to us as a tiny hoglet. She was found with a deep neck wound. Her deep cut was infected and she had ‘flystrike’ (myiasis). The tiny maggots had already started hatching and some of the fly eggs and maggots were found inside her mouth. Just eight hours after being laid, fly eggs can hatch into maggots and start feeding on their host. They can be destroyed in stomach acid, but in a wound they can also continue to eat the host alive. In nature this process is essential for removing dead and decaying animal matter from the environment, but on a live animal it is often fatal. Wildlife rescues up and down the country are mindful of this and do all they can to stop this happening.

The fly eggs and maggots were successfully removed, and Grace made an amazing recovery. In our care she showed the same stoic fight and strength we typically see from hedgehogs. She stole our hearts during her stay and became a favourite with her carers.

As always, our young hoglets are sent back into the wild by soft release, a process that allows a gradual introduction of a wild animal.

Grace’s natural habitat and safe soft release locations have been declining for decades. Smaller areas, fortress like fences, pesticides, increased developments and increased human and vehicular traffic has seen Grace pushed to the brink. Many of these changes are not within our immediate gift but some are, so driven on by Grace’s determination and stoic personality we want you to make the changes happen and together we can do it.

Changes in our own garden and that of our neighbours, our village and our community can create enough safe space for Grace. If all the gardens in Britain linked up it would create the largest nature reserve in the country.

We can each make a difference. Join us and be the change. Go to Grace’s ‘Five Point Charter’ and look at the changes you can make in your garden and if you feel inspired join ‘Grace’s Army’ and help others to do the same.

Grace inspired us and we hope she will inspire you.

Grace is the star and inspiration of Project Amazing Grace whose mission is to halt the decline in wild hedgehogs and enable them to establish healthy, thriving, and sustainable populations in villages across the country.

Join us NOW!