It’s not just badgers who manage to open a hedgehog that has curled up in order to eat it, so do poachers. Just recently, a man in the Hautes-Pyrénées who boasted on social media about knowing how to cook them was caught. He was tried on Tuesday and sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 6,900 euros that he will have to pay to five associations for the capture of nearly 400 European hedgehogs. Beyond the taste (we haven’t tested it), its possible nutritional values, and even if the question may seem surprising but arises in view of the current situation regarding these small mammals: Can we kill and eat hedgehogs, and why? 20 Minutes takes stock.
The answer is obviously no, and for many reasons. Not because they have a cute little face that attracts sympathy. Nor to be taken as a pet, (which happens more and more often and is forbidden). And even less because its thorns could be badly digested. But more seriously because they have an important role in the ecosystem and it is a protected species.
Because the preservation of this unique spiny mammal is of almost vital importance for ecosystems. Predators of insects and small invertebrates, they contribute to the regulation of pest populations such as slugs, worms and insect pests. Their disappearance, or even simply the reduction of their numbers, could have serious consequences for agricultural crops and would increase the need to use chemical pesticides, which are therefore harmful to the environment.
Protected animals
In many European countries, such as France since 1981, European hedgehogs are protected by law. It is illegal to capture, keep or kill them and hunting them is strictly prohibited, underlines the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO)). Harmless, vulnerable, with a low reproduction rate, protection is necessary to ensure the survival of the species, mainly threatened by habitat loss, lawn mowers, encounters with car tires, pesticides and the disappearance of insects, global warming which disrupts hibernation.
“A general decline in the immune system,” recently revealed by the scientific study of Wildlife Rescue Center (Chene), “also explains the decline in the hedgehog population,” notes Sara Stahl, president of the Les P’tits Kipik specialized care center who works to save the European hedgehog. “They are not yet classified on a red list. We do not have a population figure, but those of other European countries are alarming. The disappearance is accelerating,” the specialist emphasizes. “There are regions in France where there are already almost none left. The associations have realized that there is a problem. Alarmed by the fall in hedgehog populations and the excess mortality in certain regions such as Normandy, some have launched studies.”
Eating it is not necessarily a good idea
According to France Nature Environmentwhich also attempts to list them, out of 6,700 observations in 2023 made throughout France, the number of reports of living hedgehogs nevertheless prevails (82%) but underlines that among the dead hedgehog sightingsroad collisions are the main cause of mortality (83%).
Although it is sometimes consumed by humans, often out of necessity in the past and out of tradition now, notably byTravel communitiesit is said that its flavor is not up to the risks taken and that it is difficult to cook. But a good reason not to eat a mammal whose species is under pressure is also health-related. Hedgehogs are indeed carriers of many diseases transmissible to humans. Among them, salmonellosis, as well as bacterial infections of all kinds, sometimes dangerous. We do not wish you a good appetite….