THIS little hedgehog was lucky to be brought back from the brink.
Natalie Carr was astounded when she found a hedgehog in the passenger footwell of her car.
She believes it had been in there for days in intense heat.
When she found it, the little mammal was hungry, severely dehydrated and very hot.
She took it to Arvonia Vets in The Reddings, and they advised her on how best to care for him.
She took him home, and for the last few days, has been nursing him back to health and strength.
She believes the hedgehog was cruelly dumped in her car when thieves broke in earlier this week.
She said: "My car was broken into on Sunday night.
"I stupidly hadn't locked my car and they went in and stole my SatNav.
"Then on Monday, I took my car for its MOT. On Tuesday morning when I got in it, I saw a green slime on the front passenger floor, and I thought it was mess left from the MOT.
"On Wednesday, I got in my car and I noticed a smell. I thought maybe the thieves had left something.
"I looked around and found a hedgehog and it was barely alive. I had no food and no water and had been stuck in my car in this heat."
She said if the thieves had left the hedgehog in the car it was "absolutely disgraceful" behaviour.
"I think the thieves did it," she said.
"Hedgehogs can't climb so it can't have got in there by itself."
After returning from the vets she put it in the bathroom and left it with a bowl of water and some dog food.
When she went back later, it was eating.
And last night, Natalie, who works at Cotswold Collections, released the hedgehog back into the wild.
An RSPCA spokesperson said: "While we don't know the detail on this incident, it does highlight the danger to animals in hot cars.
"We received around 350 calls about animals trapped in hot cars last weekend alone – and that claimed a number of lives."
