Hedgepigs and Hoglets Rescue Registered Charity Number 1194516
Trustee`s Annual Report and Financial Statement
for the period 18th May, 2021 to 5th April, 2022
Principal address and registered office
3 Wilbur Way St Buryan Penzance Cornwall TR19 3FA
Trustees
Mr. Martin Cavell (Chair) Mr Nicholas Smith Jill Dodds
Patron(s)
Mrs Ann Hitchens : Wildlife and Environment Advocate Mrs. Vicky Lidiard; Wildlife Advocate/Business and I.T. Support Ms. Kate Rossall; Accounts Advisor
Bank
Lloyds Bank, 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN
Legal Status
Charity Registration Number 1194516 Established as a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 18th May, 2021
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Report of the Trustees
For the year ended 5th April, 2022
The Trustees of Hedgepigs and Hoglets Rescue are pleased to present this report along with the financial statement for the year ending 5th April, 2022
Governance
The charity is governed by trustees who hold quarterly meetings, or more frequently if it is deemed necessary. Our governing document states we must have a minimum quorum of 3 trustees. Further trustees may be decided following agreement of all trustees at a meeting and would be carefully appointed according to their skills-set relating to the charitys purposes, public benefit requirements and ability to move the charity forward and in compliance with charity law. New trustees would receive a copy of the charitys governing document, objects and activities and have access to the Charity Commissions website andthe essential trustee` guidance stating their responsibilities.
The charity has registered with the Fundraising Regulator to show that we are committed to high fundraising standards and are following best practice, ensuring trust for our donors.
Organisation
The trustees are responsible for ensuring the charity carrys out its purposes and plans for the future and for public benefit in compliance with the governing document and leave the day to day running to it`s founder and Animal Care/Operations Manager Jill Dodds. In the event of any need to acquire any capital items this is presented to the trustees for their decision.
Statement on Public Benefit
The objectives, activities, achievements and performance sections of this report clearly set out the activities which the charity undertakes for the public benefit. The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty in section 4 of the Charities Act, 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in determining the activities undertaken by the charity.
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Aims and Objectives
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For the benefit of the public to further the conservation and preservation of the hedgehog species in the local area
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For the benefit of the public to relieve the suffering and distress of hedgehogs who are sick, injured or orphaned and in need of a care and rehabilitation service with the aim of releasing such mammals back into the wild wherever possible
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To advance the education of the public in the study of hedgehogs as to their care, methods of treatment, research, conservation and habitat
Achievements, Activities and Performance
Hedgehog Care and Rehabilitation
During the period May 2021 to April 2022 we have admitted and cared for over 184 hedgehogs and hoglets, this included a busy May to August in 2021 when we were based in North Yorkshire from March until October 2021. This was a 50% increase above the previous year. This included a wave of 15 “newly out of the nest” hoglets suffering from dehydration and malnutrition following 5 weeks of drought and a heatwave of extreme temperatures.
Grant Funders, Patrons and support
We would like to extend our thanks to the following grant funders who have supported us; Phyllis Mary Trust grant £1000 Arnold Clark Community Fund grant £1,500 The Wild Aid Foundation donated £400 Animal Aid granted £100 Animal Friends Insurance £250 Catholic Concern for Animals £1,000 CAWF £250 GiveaCar donation of £168.70 Belvoir Estate Agents £250 Giveacar donation £80.50
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White Cross Vets of Redcar and Stokesley Vets have been our supportive vets giving their time and necessary medicines. We purchased 2 transportable ICU`s for use in our vehicle and rescue, a microscope and nebuliser.
The Trustees and Animal Care Manager would like to extend their deep gratitude to Ann Hitchens our Patron for her generous support towards equipment and resources and to Tony Bailey for his longstanding monthly donations.
We are also very grateful to Kate Rossall for giving us her time and expertise in collating our accounts and to Vicky Lidiard for her time and expertise in I.T. management.
We now have use of a dedicated hedgehog ambulance vehicle owned and financed by Jill Dodds and profiled with the charity logo and contact details to build greater local awareness. The vehicle, complete with mobile incubator, roadside first aid bag, carry baskets and crate has rapidly become essential due to increased demand for us to travel to pick up hedgehogs and small mammals and return them for release following rehabilitation.
We have now registered with GiveaCar and SmileAmazon.
We exist to rescue, rehabilitate and release hedgehogs however we couldn’t do this without the support of members of the public who find and promptly pick up sick, injured or orphaned hedgehogs in the first place and the support we receive from individual donations too. The Trustees would like to express their gratitude to our patrons as without their generosity and kindness we could not continue to save hedgehogs lives.
Education and Community Work
The covid restrictions have had a heavy impact on our work as we have been unable to carry out our usual stalls and talks etc, however, despite the impact of covid19 on our ability to visit schools and community groups we were able to carry out a zoom lesson with Sennen School and visit Marwood C of E VC Primary School and Girl Guides in Great Ayton in person. Sennen School pupils carried out their own fundraising activities for us and raised £187.00 for which we are very grateful.
We aim to build on activities with children and we will be applying for core grants to work with more early years, schools and community groups in the near future to fund new resources and activities based on earth education, nature play and forest school themes. Our aim is to inspire a love of wildlife in children and to foster a positive and protective attitude to wildlife flora and fauna.
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In response to the Nowzad Ukranian Appeal (for Ukranian zoo`s and rescue animals) Hedgepigs and Hoglets Rescue collaborated with Cornwall Glass and Glazing to arrange a collection point collecting food and supplies donations. As a charity we also donated supplies worth £171.54
Hog Hole Initiative and Speed Awareness
Between 100,000 and 300,000 hedgehogs are killed on the roads every year, (PTES and NTU, 2020). Preventative measures by offering hog hole support to mitigate road deaths have been offered to the local community with limited success thus far. A cordless drill, drill bit set, jigsaw and hacksaw have been purchased for the project. 300 flyers were posted in households offering support to cut access holes in fences where gardens backed onto main roads and posters erected in gardens. Research carried out by Forest Research UK in 2020 confirmed that July is the worst month for hedgehog deaths due to inexperienced first litter hedgehogs leaving their nests. We erected 3 SLOW/Hedgehog posters in gardens next to main roads and raise awareness across social media. We believe gathering evidence to apply for the official DVLA Wildlife sign to be sited in local villages and towns to be the way forward in future.
Soft Release Programme
We found it necessary to buy a collapsible soft release pen and hedgehog house. This equipment is loaned out to foster carers of juvenile hedgehogs who need foraging experience prior to release into the wild following a period in captivity after being rescued as hoglets or for disabled hedgehogs. We plan to buy a larger collapsible pen for adult hedgehogs.
Awareness Raising
We are building our use of social media to raise awareness and educate the public. One of our posts highlighting the risks of buying a brushwoodHogiloo` became viral (a hedgehog had been injured in one of these basket hog houses). Following this digital campaign we were approached by The Daily Mail, The Independent and Metro newspapers who all published articles and consequently Aldi, The Woodland Trust and the RSPB stopped selling this dangerous product.
Learning and Developing
Jill Dodds has completed the Vale Wildlife Rescue`s “First Aid, Care and Rehabilitation of Hedgehogs” course, the Secret World of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release
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Certificate and Species Specific Courses on Badgers and Hedgehogs. Future Hedgehog Carers will be offered the Vale course and the online Secret World CPD certificate courses.
We will be attending the SWWR Caring for British Wildlife Conference in February, 2023. We will always be learning and refining our practices as wildlife rehabilitation as a discipline is in its infancy, but to mitigate risks we base our protocols and learning on large wildlife rescue treatment training and research and other reputable professional bodies such as Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, Secret World Wildlife Rescue and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
Future Plans
Hedgepigs and Hogletslong term vision is for the rescue to grow into a wild mammal treatment centre and to develop our nature play project. We plan to collaborate with wildlife and conservation groups such as the Wildlife Trust. It will become important for us to develop our volunteer compliment of wildlife carers, digital marketing officer (to utilise technology more efficiently) and dedicated fundraisers. During the busier period`s of summer and particularly the heatwave it became apparent that we had reached our capacity in terms of cages and provision for hedgehogs or small mammals that could be cared for at any one time and we will be working on plans to move to a new permanent site into purpose built facilities.
We would be delighted to welcome the patronage and support of a wildlife vet and a conservation expert to have those skills and knowledge on hand.
Financial Review
Principal Sources of Income
Hedgepigs and Hoglets Rescue`s principal source of income is funding from grant applications itemised above and set out in our receipts and payments accounts. This
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income is augmented from crowdfunder`s and private donations, raffles and sales of items via our stalls and online. At present we do not charge a fee for talks or visits to schools or community groups but we are very grateful for any donations received during these events.
Particulars of any Outstanding Debt
The Trustees confirm that the charity has no outstanding debts which are secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the charity
Trustees
All Trustees act in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration or other material benefits for their time or work for the charity
State of Finances
Hedgepigs and Hoglets Rescues income from unrestricted funds are currently adequate to meet its outgoings and commitments for animal care, however they are inadequate to finance future development and aspirations and we will be seeking core funding in the coming months; we remain sanguine
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