Cash was haven sent; Lynne says hog help left her overwhelmed.

Byline: By DAVE ROBSON

WHEN hedgehog lover Lynne Appleby decided to join last year's Gazette Wish campaign, she didn't know what she had let herself in for.

Since 1989, Lynne, 55, of Red car, has devoted her life to saving injured, abandoned or orphaned hedgehogs.

Most of her West Dyke Road home has been given over to the animals' care.

But with her Hog Haven sanctuary costing about pounds 4,000 a year to run, she saw Wish as a good way to help pay the bills and renew equipment.

What she didn't realize was that many other people saw it that way too.

As soon as word got around she was collecting tokens for Wish, people across Teesside started dropping them in.

And when literally thousands arrived on the last day, she was up all night, frantically sticking them on to the forms.

But it proved a worthwhile exercise for Lynne, with Hog Haven ending up in the top 10 of token collectors and earning the sanctuary a cool pounds 575.52.

That not only helped her buy heat pads, which help keep baby or injured hedgehogs warm, but renew other pieces of equipment too.

And it's no exaggeration to say, the cash will have helped save several hedgehogs' lives.

Little wonder, then, that Lynne is set to take part in Wish again, although she hopes the token donations will be a bit more spread out this time!

She laughed: "I must admit, when I was up all the final night, sticking the tokens on, I thought 'never again'. It would have been nice to have them spread out a bit more, but the money was a major boost.

"The response I got was absolutely overwhelming. If I was ever in doubt as to how much people value the place, I wasn't after that.

"One young girl from East Cleveland arrived on the doorstep with 3,000 tokens! Then there was a gentleman who'd been around the libraries, collecting tokens from them.

"I was so grateful and the money made an unbelievable difference."

The publicity saw several heat pads donated to Lynne, who currently has about 43 hedgehogs - including 31 babies - in her care.

She said: "May to September is baby time and this year it has been a nightmare. The most I've had at any one time in previous years is 22.

"People move sheds or hedges,the mother abandons the nest and the babies are left behind.Last week I had a litter of seven from Eaglescliffe."

Since 1989, Lynne has cared for more than 1,400 hedgehogs of all shapes and sizes, with hundreds successfully returned to the wild.

And she says the regular successes make it all worthwhile.

She added: "I got a litter in recently and they were crawling with maggots.

"One of them,it's little eyes were barely open and they had maggots in them. I gently ran my finger along the eyelid, got rid of the maggots and the pus from an infection and that little hedgehog is absolutely gorgeous now, with two beautiful eyes.

"Then one man who brought one in admitted he was nearly going to bang it on its head to put it out of its misery.

"It was in a terrible state, but I treated its wounds, looked after it and it's tremendous now.

"It's great to be able to ring people back and tell them that things have worked out fine.It's very rewarding."

Among the equipment Lynne will be looking to buy is a new secure run, in which recuperating hedgehogs can have some outdoor space.

To contact Hog Haven call 01642 484920 or write to 56 West Dyke Road, Redcar, TS10 1HQ.

CAPTION(S):

SAVIOUR: Lynne Appleby with one of her Hog Haven charges. Her work even helped change food packaging a couple of years ago Picture by PETER REIMANN