By William Delahunty
DMU coupled with The British Hedgehog Preservation Society to host a bake sale to mark hedgehog awareness week and to raise money and educate the public on the group’s aims.
The Big Hedgehog Bake-off took place in the De Montfort University food village across Thursday and Friday last week (MAY4-5) at about noon each day.
“Hedgehogs in Britain are now an endangered species; they’ve gone from around about 36 million in 1970 to around about less than a million today, so if we can raise awareness of that … hopefully the number of hedgehogs can start to increase rather than decline,” said DMU spokesperson Mark Hopkins
The organisers encouraged many to get behind the cause by baking and donating their hedgehog-themed baked goods to the bake sale, and on the second day of the event multiple submissions were portioned up and sold on the stand.
“The Hedgehog Friendly Campus Project approached us to see if we would be interested in doing some work on campus – basically hedgehog welfare, making our campus a safer place for not just hedgehogs but for wildlife,” added Mark.
Proceeds from the event were directly donated to the Hedgehog Preservation Society in the hope of spreading the message even further.
While the money is important to the charity, the opportunity to educate the public and host a public event is just as critical as it has successfully allowed Preservation Society to directly reach out.
“What we try and do is not only do a series of actions to make our campus safer, but to raise awareness about the struggles of hedgehogs,” said Mark.
With each treat being sold, stall staff members were happy to explain that the group is attempting to reduce litter across campus as well as ensure the hedgehogs’ food, water and shelter needs are fulfilled by protecting natural areas and creating a shared habitat.
