Free Barney the Baby Hedgehog by Tina Nolan Page B

than Tom’s Land Rover came chugging back down the lane. Eva ran to greet him.
    “Mr Ingleby, can you slow down, please? The baby hedgehog has moved and it’s right in the middle of the yard where it could get run over.”
    “Still no sign of the mum?” Tom asked as he eased his Land Rover past the hedgehog.
    Eva shook her head.
    “Perhaps you should call home. Your mum and dad won’t want you out after dark, remember.”
    Nodding, Eva took out her phone and called her mum. “Hi, Mum. Did Dad tell you about the baby hedgehog? Well, there’s still no sign of the mother.”
    From the reception desk at Animal Magic, Heidi Harrison gave Eva her advice. “My guess is that the baby has been well and truly abandoned – probably sometime last night. That’s when hedgehogs are usually out and about.”
    “But why would the mother do that?” Eva asked, keeping a close eye on the hedgehog, still rolled up tight in the middle of the yard.
    “Who knows?” Heidi replied. “Maybe something bad happened to the mother and the other babies. Or maybe this one got separated from the rest of the family and lost its way. Hedgehogs have runs, you know. They keep to a set route each night, and if this little one has strayed a long way off the track, there’s not much chance of the mother finding it again.”
    “So what do we do?” Eva asked after a short pause. “I can’t leave it stuck in the middle of Tom’s yard!”
    “No, I agree.” Heidi began to shut down the computer. “It looks like we’ll have to bring your little baby here to the rescue centre.”
    “Cool!” Eva said excitedly. “What do I do?”
    “You wait for me,” Heidi said quickly.

    “OK, and I don’t touch it, like Dad said?” Eva checked.
    “That’s right. I’ll bring a pet carrier and some cat food to tempt it in, plus thick leather gardening gloves, just in case I have to pick it up. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
    “Then we can drive the baby home and hand rear it! Wow, Mum, I can’t wait!”
    “Yes, we hand rear it until it’s big enough to return to the wild,” Heidi reminded her. “That’s where hedgehogs belong.”
    “It’s OK, I won’t make a pet of it,” Eva promised. “Even though it’s really, really gorgeous!”
    “Good.”
    “…But,” Eva said in what she hoped was a persuasive voice. “While it lives with us, is it OK if I give it a name?”
    “Yes, I don’t see why not. What are you going to call it?”
    The name flashed straight into Eva’s mind as she took a quick look around. “Barney – because we found it in a barn!” she told her mum. “Barney the baby hedgehog!”

Chapter Three
    “Don’t worry – Mum will be here soon,” Eva whispered.
    Barney had slowly unrolled and set off towards Tom Ingleby’s flower beds. He took refuge amongst some bright yellow marigolds.
    “I bet you’re hungry,” she went on. “I wonder what you like to eat.”
    “Maggots,” Tom Ingleby said, appearing at the farmhouse door. “Worms, beetles and slugs.”
    “Lovely!” Eva grimaced. “I guess we’ll stick to cat food.”
    “Yes, and don’t give him cows’ milk,” Tom advised, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. “People think hedgehogs like a saucer of milk, but it makes them poorly.”
    As they talked, Eva heard a car in the lane. “See – I said she wouldn’t be long!” Eva told Barney, running to meet her mum.
    “Here’s the carrier,” Heidi said, unloading it from the boot of the car. “Now where is the little chap? Let me take a look.”
    Barney peered out from the flower bed. He twitched his tiny, black nose.
    “Oh yes, he’s just a baby,” Heidi confirmed, crouching down to look at the hedgehog. “Probably about four weeks old.”

    “He must be really scared,” Eva whispered. “I feel so sorry for him.”
    Her mum nodded. “He definitely wouldn’t survive on his own. For a start, he needs to put on weight, and as he probably isn’t fully weaned yet that would