A Prickly Affair

Freedom for the Texas hedgehogs?

Hugh Warwick 2 Comments

More than 27,000 animals are now the legal custody of the city of Arlington, Texas, following their seizure from U.S Global Exotics following a judgement on the 30th January.

I have been kept in touch with the goings on in Arlington, Texas, thanks to the wonderful folk at the Hedgehog Welfare Society, as well as friends on Facebook.

Just over three weeks ago I posted the story – about the company U.S Global Exotics and its exposure as a desperately cruel enterprise thanks to the enterprising investigations of an undercover operative from PETA.

And now, homes are being sought for the 600 or so hedgehogs. One of my facebook friends (Vicki McLean) is on her way to Texas to get as many as she can and help re-home them. She has already been busy helping care for them.

Yet again, I admire the dedication that hedgehogs attract – whether it is the amazing hedgehog and wildlife rehabilitators here in the UK, or those who expend enormous resources on vulnerable hedgehogs in the alien space of the USA.

Why do hedgehogs attract such love and attention? Partly it is because they are the only wild animal that we can easily nurture – they ‘allow’ us by dint of their behaviour when threatened to care for them. But there is something else (other than the fact that they are darn cute) – and that is the gateway they provide to a touch of the wild. So this is my concern about the domestication of the hedgehog. What makes a hedgehog so special is its wild heart … so please – when these ones are rescued – can some thought be given to allowing them to keep what makes them so very very special.

Bankers steal hedgehogs

Hugh Warwick 4 Comments

Google alerts can be wonderful – through them I have found reviews of my book, references to articles I have written, and, of course, lots and lots of stuff about hedgehogs. And this morning, a new one … one that, if I had not finished my porridge, would have left me spluttering gluey oats into my beard and across the computer screen.

Who do you think is in need of a social networking facility? Which portion of society has been so left out that it needs its own platform to share and hold e-hands across the vast distances of cyber-space?

Bankers and hedge-fund managers … and they have taken the url …. oh, this bit makes me feel more than a little sick …. hedgehogs.net …. and what is even more galling about this is that I missed the url … and it is in the hands of a bunch of people who are managing to do more than anyone else to further the destruction of the lives and habitats of my beloved creatures.

What can I do, other than to grind my teeth and shake my fist in futile fury at the computer?

ps – I remembered a book review I wrote that explains a little why the very rich are so linked to the destruction of the hedgehog (well, I don’t think I actually mention hedgehogs in the review … but you get the point). The book was ‘How the rich are destroying the earth’ by Herve Kempf.

Fish out of water (pt. 2)

Hugh Warwick 4 Comments

As I walked into the room (late due to a rather erroneous website) it was immediately apparent that this was not a normal conference. I had agreed to talk at ‘Thought for Food: the ethics of eating: a colloquium at Blackfriars’ at short notice, despite it taking place the morning after a week’s holiday. And despite it being nothing to do with hedgehogs. And despite it being quite some time since I have talked on this sort of subject.

But I enjoy a challenge and had prepared my 20 minute contribution to the conference … which was not a conference but a colloquium (an academic seminar). So, the reason why it was so different? Five monks in white habits and a nun too, along with 20 or so others, sat around a square of tables. Talking was Professor Angel Mendez – and as I gathered the programme for the day, I found his subject was ‘Sharing in the divine edible gift: becoming nourishment’. Rather different to my diatribe against industrial meat production and call for eco-nutrition.

Angel – what a name for a man in a habit – was talking about eros – desire – and how this can overtake us when we are considering food. But the bit that really stuck in my mind was his statement that ‘the abundance of food was an indication of the generosity of god’. Now I am sure you can see the flaw in this argument and at the end, when no one else was asking questions, I decided, that despite the august and obviously devoted audience, it was time to ask something pertinent.

‘If the abundance of food is an indication of the generosity of god, what does the absence of food indicate?’ Angel rambled on about the fact that there is more to life than just food – and left me needing to comment that surely it is indicative that god is obviously as spiteful as he is generous. I think that fairly clearly set me apart from everyone else in the room. And freed me up to ask whatever I wanted – which, in the case of the crumbs, was one of the most remarkable revelations I have ever had.

The conversation had moved on to the delight of making bread, and how at the eucharist it is a very special event when the bread consumed is local. But then came the problem of the crumbs. A simple wafer leaves no mess, but a small chunk of homemade bread risks shedding a few crumbs. And this lead to letters to Rome to try and work out what to do with the crumbs. Apparently my jaw hitting the table drew attention and someone decided I might need some of the back-story. The crumbs are not crumbs of bread after the bread has been blessed. They are fragments of christ and apparently it is not the done thing to hoover up christ. In retrospect my question, ‘is there not a time when you just want to say ‘get a grip’ to people like this’ was ill-placed, as it became obvious that there were many people ‘like this’ in the room!

By the time it was my turn to talk, I decided that I should just go for it and hope for the best, moving my assault on from fundamentalist religion to the industrial production of meat. And I actually rather enjoyed myself. There was one monk who was sitting in his medieval robes with frayed black jeans and hush-puppies sticking out under the table – checking his mail on his i-Phone. And the older, grey-bearded monk who had been working for many years in the West Indies, describing the delight of receiving best quality Trinidadian grass for his very English pipe, so better to enjoy the carnival!

And the hedgehog connection? While my powerpoint presentation was being sorted out by the IT monk, I took the opportunity to plug my book to the rather bemused audience and explained that there was a food connection, as it contains a recipe for hedgehog spaghetti carbonara. This focussed much of the tea-time conversations!

It was strange to be among religious fundamentalists in the UK – but also fun and challenging. All power to weirdness I say, as long as people do not thrust their weirdness on me (and they get a grip about the crumbs!)

The hedgehog in the fog

Hugh Warwick 1 Comment

I have just read that Sergey Kozlov, author of beautiful fairy tales featuring the Hedgehog and the Bear, has died at the age of 70. I came across his work while researching my book (or googling the word hedgehog as it sometime became) – and the most memorable version was the film made by Yuriy Norshteyn – The Hedgehog in the Fog. I have seen this many times – it is gorgeous and spooky and worth watching.

During the research I also came across a superbly surreal video from Bjork for her track Human Behaviour which was most definitely an homage to the Norshteyn animation – starting with a hedgehog, or course.

Have a watch of them both – a real sense of loveliness.

Why the exotic pet trade is wrong and undercover investigations are so important

Hugh Warwick 8 Comments

More than 27,000 animals, including over 730 hedgehogs, have been seized from exotic pet dealer in Arlington, Texas. The company, US Global Exotics, was raided following a seven month undercover investigation by the animal rights organisation, PETA.

In what is thought to be the largest seizure of animals in the US, the range of species found is staggering: wallabies, sloths, ringtail lemurs, kinkajous, coatimundis, agoutis, hedgehogs, chinchillas, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, flying squirrels, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, prairie dogs, ferrets, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, spiders, crabs, and scorpions.

Many of these animals have been collected from the wild and transported to the dealer. The undercover recordings on the PETA website show that US Global Exotics was a company that appeared not to care about the welfare of the animals. There are some very grisly and gruesome images, so be warned before looking at the video.

Friends of mine, who I met at the Rocky Mountain Hedgehog Show while researching my book, have been helping to clear up the mess by taking the hedgehogs into care. But now the Hedgehog Welfare Society needs help and money so they can re-home the hedgehogs.

And this is where I get annoyed about the whole exotic pet industry. The hedgehog pet keepers I met were wonderful and kind if, to be honest, a little eccentric. They love their hedgehogs, they care for them without fault. But their wonderful care helps perpetuate the exotic pet industry. They encourage people to think that it is okay to have these animals as pets and this means that other people, less well-equipped to be nurturing (or simply downright mean and stupid), think it is okay  to have an exotic animal as a companion.

I don’t know what the answer is, but while there is big money to be made from the exotic pet trade, there are always going to be people, like US Global Exotics, who will take advantage of lax enforcement of animal welfare legislation to try and squeeze extra profit from the bodies of these animals.

And if it were not for the intrepid investigator, none of this would have made the news – and the animals would continue to be abused. So all praise to the brave and wonderful undercover stars – who have to keep their light well and truly hidden. And if you are ever tempted to buy an exotic pet – try and find out what it went through before it got to you before making a decision.

1000 visitors and drunken hedgehogs

Hugh Warwick 3 Comments

Someone very soon is about to be the 1000th visitor to my blog … now that may not strike you as much (I think that Mr Fry has over 1,000,000 twits) – but for me it is an achievement and will make me feel just a little bit more loved!

Please pass on the blog link to anyone you think might be interested in the wonderful world of hedgehogs and the peculiar way I manage to see a hedgehog in pretty much every story out there … more to follow – though perhaps I should be advocating hibernation now our toes are beginning to be nipped.

And for the hedgehog relevant bit – just had a question in about a hedgehog behaving in a drunken manner … this is not the result of hedgehogs eating slugs that have been killed in beer traps (at least not at this time of year) – but it is a very clear indication that the animal is suffering from hypothermia – and will die if not taken into care (that is not a judgement call by the way, it is just an observation). If you want to find out the basics of keeping a hedgehog alive, have a look in my book; at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society or call your local carer (details again via the BHPS).

Happy Hedgehogging xx

Fish out of water falling back in (temporarily)

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I was lucky enough to be sent to a pretty posh school – Marlborough College (I like to think of it as a Richard Strauss sort of school – the composer said “I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer!” … though coming from the person who magicked the Four Last Songs into the world, or made me weep during der Rosenkavelier, that is unimaginable self-deprecation … where was I, okay – so Marlborough, not up there with the likes of Eton, but left me confident and with a taste for marijuana and Wadworth’s 6X).

But I did not fit in at Marlborough. And it is fascinating finding out (relatively recently) about my biological family how, despite the best efforts of my parents to mould and coax me towards a conventional life, so much of my biological heritage has emerged in my character.

So much I did at the school was rattling the cage of the status quo – going on a trip to Greenham Common Peace Camp, for example (with the one liberal teacher there) was fairly indicative of the small car-full of dissent the school tolerated. Though I think I was scarred for life by the Amazon who came charging through the undergrowth in a fury as we-three timid boys were walking around the base and unwittingly trespassing on a women-only patch of mud.

Back to the vague hedgehog-related nature of this post – I have just received a copy of ‘The Marlburian’ – the magazine for Old Marlburians. Throughout my entire time at the school I do no think I ever graced the pages of success – but now, I have a lengthy review of A Prickly Affair in the pages of this august journal. And I feel strangely satisfied.

Better still that I do not know the person who wrote such a glowing review, “passionate yet gentle, authoritative but accessible, and deeply personal.”

In response to my verbal trickery in summing up my trip to China he says, “If Hugh Warwick ever tires of the role of naturalist, a glittering career awaits him in spin.”

And that is probably one of the things I gained most from my time at the school – an ability to talk my way out of trouble … so it was worth it in the end (even if this is not quite the equivalent of the Four Last Songs.)

Self-promotion

Hugh Warwick 1 Comment

To some this may seem unsavoury, but to me, it is a necessary component of life … self-promotion. I think that I was raised to shun such extreme behaviour, but somewhere along the line I shed the middle-class reserve (probably around the time I learnt to think for myself, and realised that ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’).

So, here are just a few of the reviews that A Prickly Affair and The Hedgehog’s Dilemma (one and the same) received … and if you are so moved, please go to Amazon and write more.
Jeanette Winterson
“the most glorious mad book… a charming book and will take your mind off everything.”

New Scientist
“…an autobiographical yarn … that is at once humorous, touching and obsessive… An oddly satisfying read.”

The Guardian
“…unfailingly entertaining… Ultimately it’s a book about our relationship with hedgehogs as much as it is about hedgehogs themselves.” “Save a hedgehog and you might just save the world.”

Jay Griffiths
“This is an utterly charming book, it is funny and gently serious.”

Libby Purves (Midweek)
“The perfect antidote to the economic crisis.”

The Spectator
“This is a useful and entertaining book, and unsentimental.”

The Daily Telegraph
“Hugh Warwick, an otherwise normal father-of-two…”

Oxford Times
“You end up learning an enormous amount about hedgehogs without really noticing, and laugh quite a lot, too.”

Hay Book Festival programme
“A truly eccentric global story of hog lore.”

LA Times
“There’s more than a whiff of the legendary naturalist Gerald Durrell here — his humor, his affection and his never-ending curiosity.”

The Red Hedgehog

Hugh Warwick 1 Comment

This afternoon I have had a treat. My first experience at The Red Hedgehog. Now it is hardly surprising that I would be excited by a venue by that name – but there is so much more to it than the name. Set up by Clare Fischer as an act of rebellious love (rebelling against cash flow mainly …) on Archway Road, just a few steps from Highgate Tube, The Red Hedgehog takes its name and inspiration from a famous 19th century coffee house in Vienna, Zum Roten Igel. This was the regular haunt of many famous musicians, including Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and especially Brahms (who stubbornly refused to eat or drink anywhere else.)

I wanted to get a little bit of red on my hedgehog tattoo as a link to Brahms, but they only had black ink.

So now I hope the Highgate incarnation becomes the regular haunt of musicians and music lovers – perhaps one day even to rival the reputation of Zum Roten Igel?

So, I get two of my great passions met under one roof!

The concert was surprisingly wonderful – and I say that by way of kicking myself. A dear friend had been telling me how I had to see and hear the daughter of an artist she models for (Josie Spencer). And I was reluctant … partly because I was not expecting much and partly because I was worried about having to treat that fine line between honesty and protecting feelings.

The reason why I am kicking myself? Because I have had chances to see Tamsin Waley-Cohen play on many occasions, and now I know what I was missing. She is only 23, but plays her rather elegant Stradivarius violin with a sublime maturity and poise. Her partner for this wonderful concert was cellist Gemma Rosefield who possesses an instrument of even finer heritage than Tamsin’s – being once a gift George IV from the King of Spain.

And both of them made these instruments, coming up to 300 years old, sing like angels. I was left wondering what the artists who created these instruments would make of the noises Tamsin and Gemma were coaxing from them? Even the Beethoven duet they began with might have been a bit racy for the craftsmen.

The piece was originally for bassoon and violin, but worked wonderfully in this new setting. But I was not won over – the performance was definitely good, but did not hit me.

That came next – a Ravel duet, an homage to Debussy, was striking, powerful, scary and beautiful. It would have shocked an 18th century musician.

After the interval came my shock. I was expecting some Handel – expecting something more in keeping with the age of the instruments … but found myself transported into world of passionate dances, mingling folk-themes with flourishes of virtuosity. At times there must have been at least another two people playing to make such a beautiful wall of noise. Afterwards it was explained to me that this was the Passacaglia, and while credited to Handel is as much the work of Johan Halversen, a Norwegian violinist who was composing at the beginning of the 20th century.

The two women finished with another piece of more modern, and demanding (on themselves) music, from Kodaly. They proved themselves far more than exceptional technicians, imbuing even the most complicated of passages with passion.

As an encore they treated us to a delicate contrast to the Kodaly – a duet by Gliere that was as light as a Spring walk.

These two young musicians made my day – and then I found that they had already performed to 20 children in the morning … I must try and get them up to Oxford.

So – keep an eye out for them. If they are playing near you, go.

Pet hedgehogs are barking (mad)

Hugh Warwick 5 Comments

The Daily Telegraph and Mail have both carried articles today about pet hedgehogs – in the name of quirky news they report that they are “stealing the hearts of rich women…ousting designer dogs like Chihuahuas from their handbags.”

So I was pleased that they have allowed me to rant a little …

It happens every year – cute photo makes story … and at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, we are hamstrung – not supposed to comment as our remit is  ‘British hedgehogs’ – and despite repeated arguments at board meetings, I have failed to get a substantial change in the way we address this. So the BHPS can put out a generally concerned response to all requests … luckily I speak (rant) independently – and will continue to do so!

And just as an aside – have you noticed that there are THREE hedgehog stories in the press at the moment. Not just the pet-farrago, but there is a story about a fat hedgehog in a rescue centre that needs to go on a diet (they had that story last year) and a report from Gardeners World showing yet more evidence of a decline in hedgehog numbers (a story that is very upsettingly repeated year on year). So – hedgehogs remain a massive draw for the media … which can only be a good thing for me!