An animal lover who turned her home into a haven for sick and injured hedgehogs is in "desperate" need of relocating to a bigger site.

Sue Stubley is the founder of Suffolk Hedgehog Hospital, which she has been running for 14 years from her home in Ousden, between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket.

Bury Mercury: Sue and her team of volunteers look after sick and injured hedgehogs until they can be releasedSue and her team of volunteers look after sick and injured hedgehogs until they can be released (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

Sue and her team of volunteers look after sick and injured hedgehogs and release them back into the wild when they are healthy.

The hedgehog hospital, which has just become a charity, has completely taken over Sue's home, leaving her little space to even cook in her kitchen, so she is in urgent need of a bigger site.

Bury Mercury: Suffolk Hedgehog Hospital is currently at Sue's home in Ousden, in between Bury St Edmunds and NewmarketSuffolk Hedgehog Hospital is currently at Sue's home in Ousden, in between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

She said: "I desperately, desperately need more space. The hedgehogs are just everywhere. They are in my kitchen.

"My ultimate goal is to create a release site on-site to create an area that's safe to release hedgehogs and be able to help other other endangered British wildlife.

"Ideally I would like to find a big piece of land we can do that on and put the hospital on. I would live in a mobile home to start with if I had to."

She added: "If there's nothing like that available, if there's a piece of land we could put a container on to store things in that would be really helpful."

Bury Mercury: Sue said they took in more than 500 hedgehogs during the first few months of the first lockdown last yearSue said they took in more than 500 hedgehogs during the first few months of the first lockdown last year (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

Sue currently has more than 100 hedgehogs at the hospital, but she said in the first few months of the coronavirus lockdown last year they took in more than 500. Normally in a year they get more than 1,000.

Sue, who runs a property business, said during last year's spring lockdown hedgehogs being injured by garden strimmers was "one of the worst things".

Sue urged people to check areas for hedgehogs before using strimmers and lawnmowers to avoid harming them, and also recommended people keep a 'wild area' in their garden to help all wildlife.

There are vets on the Suffolk Hedgehog Hospital team and Sue herself can attend to most of the wounds.

Bury Mercury: Sue's hedgehog hospital has three outbuildings and they are also building a small ops roomSue's hedgehog hospital has three outbuildings and they are also building a small ops room (Image: CHARLOTTE BOND)

Currently, they are building a small ops room at the hospital, which has three outbuildings in Sue's garden.

  • Sue is hoping to purchase land in a 10-mile radius of the Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket area. Anyone who can help should email suffolkhedgehoghospital@gmail.com or call Sue on 077022 11302.