THE Farmers’ Union of Wales has warned that conservation bodies have their heads in the sand over the devastating impact badgers have had on hedgehog numbers.

The State of British Hedgehogs 2018 report released last week by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species estimates that hedgehog numbers have halved since the beginning of the century, and places the lion’s share of the blame on intensive farming.

However, world-leading hedgehog expert Dr Pat Morris, author of The New Hedgehog Book, wrote in his 2006 book, “The implications [of high badger population densities] for hedgehog survival are serious...ignoring the issue or pretending that badgers exist only by harmless drinking of rainwater doesn’t help at all.”

A survey of badger numbers between November 2011 and March 2013 found that badger numbers in England and Wales have increased by between 70 per cent and 105 per cent in the past 25 years.

“Dr Morris is named in the State of British Hedgehogs 2018 report as the instigator of the first survey of hedgehogs based on animals killed on roads, but no mention is made of his concerns regarding high badger numbers having such a devastating impact on hedgehogs," said FUW president Glyn Roberts.

“The issue is dismissed and swept under the carpet, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the impact of badger predation, while farmers are effectively singled out as being to blame.

“A 2014 peer reviewed study of hedgehog numbers in 10 100km2 areas where badgers were culled in England found that ‘...counts of hedgehogs more than doubled over a five-year period from the start of badger culling, whereas hedgehog counts did not change where there was no badger culling’.”

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition on Wednesday