REVEALED: WOMAN WHO BROUGHT 'INJURED BABY HEDGEHOG' INTO ANIMAL HOSPITAL WENT BRIGHT RED IN THE FACE WHEN STAFF TOLD HER IT WAS ACTUALLY A FLUFFY HAT BOBBLE
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A woman who brought what she thought was an injured baby hedgehog into an animal hospital went bright red in the face and left quickly when staff told her it was actually a fluffy hat bobble, the manager said today.
The kind-hearted woman had carefully nursed the ball of fluff overnight after finding it by the roadside and put it in a shoebox with a bowl of food.
She clasped her hand to her mouth in shock and exclaimed: 'You're joking!' when she was informed that the 'creature' she had brought in was actually a fashion accessory that belonged on a woolly hat.
She had mistaken the bobble for an injured hedgehog and spent the night looking after it before bringing it in last Thursday to Lower Moss Wood Nature Reserve & Wildlife Hospital, in Knutsford, Cheshire.
But when hospital manager Janet Kotze opened the box, she realised the 'hedgehog' actually belonged on a woolly hat.
Ms Kotze said she 'couldn't believe what she was seeing' when she made the discovery.
The hospital manager revealed today: 'The lady brought it in a cardboard box very gingerly and when she placed it on the counter, I could it was lined with newspaper and even had a small dish of food. In the middle was a small furry ball.
'She said that she had rescued a baby hedgehog and spent the night caring for it but when she got up that morning the creature wasn't moving so she brought it to us.
She'd phoned ahead and drove over to us about mid-morning. I think she was the first admission that day.
'It was unlike any hedgehog I'd ever seen but I wondered just what it was or if - rather grimly - it was part of an animal.
'So, I carefully picked up the box and took it through to one of the surgery rooms to have a better inspection under the light.
'There was no movement, even when I wobbled the box a little.
'But as soon as got a bit closer I worked out that it wasn't anything living and when I reached out and carefully touched it, it was obvious that it was the bobble from someone's woolly hat.
'I took the box back out into the reception where the woman was waiting and said, 'I'm so sorry, it's actually a bobble….from a hat' and picked it up to show her.
'This poor woman went red with embarrassment and put her hand to her mouth and said, 'you're joking?!'
The animal lover then sheepishly walked out of the animal hospital, box in hand.
Ms Kotze continued: 'She took the box back but was gone in a flash. She was crestfallen - really embarrassed - but she'd done everything right, she'd not touched what she thought was the hedgehog, left it alone and brought it into us. It's always better to be safe than sorry.
'There's normally a file that people have to fill in, giving their contact details and location of where they'd found the animal but this lady went quickly without bothering, not that she needed to in the end, of course.
'She got into her car and drove off. She didn't want to hang around but she shouldn't feel too bad, she was a very sweet lady and her heart was in the right place.'
Ms Kotze added that if people see a hedgehog out in the open during daytime they should be taken to a rescue as it is a sign they are distressed.
Janet said: 'It's a golden rule that hedgehogs shouldn't be out in daytime, especially little ones like that, but she did absolutely the right thing - aside from the fact that it wasn't a hedgehog.'
Read more 2024-03-28T18:32:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd