Bluestocking Mum

Wild London David Attenborough I'm getting so many posts from lovely people absolutely outraged at the misinformation regarding hedgehogs and slugs presented on this show yesterday, so I'll just address it here. David Attenbourough is a really lovely man, and has done an immense amount of good for us, our wildlife, and our planet. But he, like any other TV presenter, relies on programme researchers for script content. The researchers, in turn, rely on who they *perceive to be* experts in the field. Unfortunately, they were taken in by some clever branding and chose the wrong people: A self-proclaimed 'hedgehog expert', often funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (see their most recent dangerous misinformation, and my response, published here:teapaw.org/HedgehogCabin/status/2…) And the London Wildlife Trust. Recently the London Wildlife Trust engaged me as an expert consultant on a 4 page spread article about hedgehog myths. Many of you have seen my interview, and the draft of the subsequent article. I was sent this draft (see 1st image below) for approval, to which I agreed. However, before going to print, an executive at London Wildlife trust decided to do some editing of his own. It's shocking, I know, and would be unbelievable, if not here in actual print. I've included two versions of the full article below: the first draft approved by me and the team at LWT, and the second actual printed version, after executive 'editing'. It was this same London Wildlife Trust who co-produced the Wild London documentary and "provided expert help and advice". So now you know. We're all shocked. But of course, as usual, it's the poor hedgehogs who will suffer. People won't provide food for our critically endangered hedgehogs, or bother keeping their garden natural and wild, now they've been told that hedgehogs eat slugs. After all, there's plenty of them to go round. Rescues all around the country, who are treating hedgehogs dying of lungworm from being forced through starvation into eating slugs, will feel so demoralised and invalidated. Like you, I'm furious, frustrated, and bone-wearily saddened.