Hedgehog put down after being kept in squalor as other mammals and pigeons left suffering at makeshift Hampshire wildlife centre

Ross Clifford, 44, admitted to two animal welfare offences after he was found to have been keeping injured birds and hedgehogs in dirty containers without food and water. He was prosecuted by the Royal Society for Protection of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

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Inspectors were called to the address on October 14, 2022, after they were told that dead and dying animals were found on location. A vet examined the animals in the care of Clifford, of Quicksilver Way, and found birds which were being uncared for.

A severely injured pigeon was being housed in a wicker basket with heavily solid newspaper on the base without food, water, or anywhere to perch. Another bird was kept in a bedroom wardrobe.

A young wood pigeon was found in a collapsible crate which was lined with a towel covered in faeces – fresh and drying. Hedgehogs were also being housed in revolting conditions.

Two spiny mammals were left in a collapsible crate adorned with we shredded newspaper and mouldy food. They were found very lethargic and lying motionless.

One hedgehog had to be put down due to an unsurvivable injury and dehydration – being left in a hamster cage which stank of stale urine without food and water. Another was found in a plastic cat carrier dehydrated with sunken eyes and pale mucous membranes.

Inspector Miranda Albinson, who investigated for the charity, said: ’Injured captive wildlife is completely reliant on those providing care to ensure their needs are met. Sadly, in this instance, that responsibility was not fulfilled.’

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Clifford appeared before Basingstoke Magistrates Court on March 28. In mitigation, he said the care was well-intended but incompetent.

He added that he set up a wildlife rescue in his home and was unable to care for the numbers as he would have wished – acknowledging his premises were not set up to deal with wildlife rescue and that he fell short of the standards required by good practice. Clifford, currently serving in Winchester HMP for unrelated offences, was handed a 12-week sentence which runs concurrently to his existing sentence.