Corridors for hedgehogs installed in Toulouse gardens
Cécile has been busy for a month. This Toulouse woman telephones all the neighbors in her neighborhood in order to raise their awareness of a cause that is dear to her: the hedgehogs and their protection.
An endangered species
A few years indeed Since the hedgehog is a species in trouble. These insectivores suffer from disappearance of insects in recent years but also extensive agriculture. This is why many hedgehogs fled the campaign for peri-urban areas. There they feed with the inhabitants and find refuge in the gardens of suburban districts. But the dangers of the road as well as the fences are as many dangerous obstacles for them.
Cécile sees him every day in her garden. “We took in a little hedgehog in distress last fall. We often see them crushed in our street. When my neighbor told me about the Nature Occitanie project, I was immediately thrilled to participate.”
A participatory project between neighbors
This is where it all started, the Toulousaine called the association to find out what to do. She then became, in a way, the ambassador of her district to carry the project. Since then, she has been trying to raise awareness among all her neighbours. His neighbor Sylvie is one of those who agreed to put a corridor in his garden. This afternoon two volunteers from the association as well as Cécile installer comes to the corridor at Sylvie’s.
Behind the shrubs, Aude creates the corridor: “we cut a small circle in the fence, about ten centimeters, we take care to bend the fence well so that the hedgehog does not hurt itself by passing through it. Finally we install a plywood panel on each side of the fence, then on the screwed together.”
Raising wider awareness of nature conservation
In just ten minutes, the corridor is installed. Everything is free. France Nature Environnement donated 600 euros to Nature Occitanie to buy the equipment. Nature Occitanie then takes care of the break in the corridors and does, in passing, a little pedagogy as Aude recalls: “The hedgehog is a very popular species that allows you to engage in conversation to talk about other species to be protected. We also take the opportunity to discover the species in the gardens, to give some advice.”
For the moment a ten corridors must be installed by Nature Occitanie in Toulouse. But the association hopes to eventually be able to install them in all residential areas of the city, or in parks.