With a broken leg over a Bank Holiday weekend, you'd be feeling a bit spiky too

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:28 AM on 4th May 2010

Any little girl with a broken leg might be slightly cheered up with a pink cast. But this tiny female patient is not letting her emotions show to those looking after her.

She is currently a guest of staff at St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

The young hedgehog was discovered in a back garden in Northampton with a broken front right leg and pelvis.

Nurses at the hospital have put her leg in plaster and hope she will make a full recovery in six weeks.

Hedgehog Awareness Week runs until May 8 this year. The annual event aims to highlight the problems hedgehogs face in their shared environment with humans.

As with most small animals living around humans, cars pose the biggest threat to hedgehogs. Many are run over as they attempt to cross roadways.

Being nocturnal, a hedgehog snoozing in the garden can also fall victim to lawn mowers, trimmers and other gardening equipment. Another common human-related fatality is pesticides.

In 2006, fast-food chain McDonald's changed the design of its McFlurry containers because hedgehogs would get their heads stuck in the container as they tried to lick the remaining food from inside the cup.

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