Hedgehog-friendly Neighbourhoods

Hedgehog-friendly neighbourhoods is a project in collaboration with Stichting Welzijnswerk Hoogeveen, Centraal Orgaan Opvang asielzoekers Hoogeveen, hedgehog rescue ‘t Egelhuus Hollandscheveld and The Hedgehog Program.

SWW wanting to connect people while supporting wildlife

The wish from SWW was to connect people within their own neighbourhoods while supporting wildlife at the same time. So they set up a project to make and place hedgehog hotels in the area they work in specifically. The pilot is meant for two neighbourhoofds within the city of Hoogeveen, The Netherlands.

COA Hoogeveen wanting to connect refugees to locals

The COA in Hoogeveen running the refugee center wants to connect refugees with people living in the neighbourhoods in order to provide people with chances to settle in the city and feel at home. They have volunteers wanting to build hedgehog hotels together with local families to place in their neighbourhood.

Hedgehog rescue wants to support wildlife

The hedgehog rescue is one of the few rescues in the area and thus wants to make an effort into supporting hedgehogs in the city to prevent them from coming in to their rescue. Providing advice to local people on how to support hedgehogs, how to spot sick hedgehogs and when to bring hedgehogs to a rescue.

The Hedgehog Program wants to connect people to the natural world

The Hedgehog Program was asked to join in on the collaboration by providing advice, providing PR and generally helping out whenever we can. One of our main goals is to educate people and connect them to the natural world around them. By being present during the walk through the neighbourhood we can pick spots to place the hedgehog hotels and explain why those places work so well.

A pilot in two neighbourhoods

This project is a pilot in two neighbourhoods in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands to see if people want to actively help support wildlife while connecting with refugees currently staying in the refugee center. People living in a certain street can sign up to make a hedgehog hotel together with the volunteers from the refugee center. The design of the hedgehog hotel is based on the design from the hedgehog protection foundation in The Netherlands. After building a hedgehog hotel, we’ll walk around the street with them to pick a good spot to place the hedgehog and provide instructions on how to monitor the hedgehogs visiting the hedgehog hotel. In the future if the pilot proves to be successful, we can expand to other neighbourhoods.