Mar28

mistaken.

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A worried animal lover was left red-faced when the baby hedgehog she carefully nursed overnight and rushed to an animal hospital turned out to be a fluffy HAT BOBBLE.
The pom-pom next to its bowl of food 

A wildlife hospital just solved a hilarious case of mistaken identity.

On Thursday, a woman brought in a baby hedgehog to the Lower Moss Nature Reserve and Wildlife Hospital in Cheshire, England — only to be told it wasn’t an animal in need,  but a beanie hat pop-pom.

The caring woman had picked up the ‘hedgehog’ from the side of the road after she noticed it “hadn’t moved or pooped all night,” reported U.K. newspaper The Independent.

“From a distance, you take it at face value. She didn’t handle it at all — she scooped it in a box with some cat food and left it alone in a warm, dark place,” veterinarian Janet Kotze, told the paper.

“She did everything so well. She barely peeked at it because she didn’t want to stress it out.”

Kotze described the woman who made the rescue as having “well-meaning” intentions. She said she knew immediately when presented with the box containing the ‘hedgehog’ what it actually was.

“It was pretty obvious to us but I can also see how she was mistaken,” she recalled. “She said, ‘You’re joking! Oh my goodness, how did I do that?’ ”

“She was so concentrated on doing the right thing. She was concerned it hadn’t moved or even pooed — that would be spooky if it had,” Kotze added.

Hedgehog
A real-life hedgehog

The wildlife hospital wrote of the rescue attempt on  Facebook, “Our hearts melted as a kind soul thought she was rescuing a baby hedgehog,” as they jokingly nicknamed the pop-pom ‘hoglet.’

Despite the mistake, the reserve shared that the “adorable” new visitor “still got all the love, complete with some cozy TLC.”

“Remember, kindness knows no bounds, even when it’s to a faux furry friend! 🐾,” the wildlife hospital added while highlighting the importance of rescuing hedgehogs in vulnerable situations.

“Please remember, if you spot a hedgehog out during the day, it’s a sign something’s not right. Pop them in a box with a warm source and seek help from your local vets. Let’s keep our prickly friends safe!”

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“he was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he

would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain.”

-douglas william jerrold

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p.s. confession:  this could have easily been me. especially if i didn’t have my glasses on. 

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source credits: escher walcott, people, the independent, kennedy news media photo,
brandi ettis, getty images, lower moss nature reserve

85 responses »

  18. I had to look up the difference between hedgehogs and porcupines, because I have never seen a hedgehog in the US. They are not native to North America and are not the same species. Porcupines have many more quills, which are barbed on the end and can penetrate deeply into internal organs. Hedgehog quills are not dangerous, but a bite can be.

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  36. I did not know that seeing hedgehogs during the day indicates a problem. But I guess they are nocturnal. We used to see them during the day sometimes in northern Sweden when I was a kid and we gave them a bowl of milk, which they drank.

    We found an unconscious opossum near our house here in Texas. We put him in a box and took him to the veterinarian where he woke up. They in turn took him to a wildlife center. Later we thought that maybe he was just playing dead. They do that.

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  38. My wife’s second grade classroom had a large African cockroach as a pet. When it died, she moved it around the tank because she did not want to break the bad news to the suspicious students. Eventually the roach had to go home with someone on a break and the ruse collapsed.

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