I will provide an overview of the research I conduct to understand the challenges causing European hedgehogs to decline, with the goal to optimise conservation efforts through the knowledge gained, with a focus on the insights especially applicable to veterinary staff treating hedgehogs. I will demonstrate how vets, veterinary nurses and wildlife rehabilitators are vital contributors to, and collaborators, in my research- hopefully inspiring many more to participate in future projects.

The more time I spent in this field, the more I feel "conservation" is a very broad, and potentially overused word to describe the work of the veterinary community in this field. Over the years I have spent time rehabilitaing some of the most wonderful animals and although my experiences have taken me round the world under the guise of conservation, I still have a hard time placing myself "a nurse" as a "conservationist", feeling that my role is more routed in wild animal welfare that in species survival. Often when I raise this with vets in the field and they agree, I hope to open this topic up for discussion with the audience.