It was being evaluated for inclusion in the IUCN Red List of species threatened in 2023 and is now listed as “Almost threatened” according to the A2ac criterion: ours is not doing well European hedgehog, whose population is declining sharply in Europe.
Which is why the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the species as for the first time “potentially endangered” on its Red List of Threatened Species and it is the second level of a scale of 7 used by the IUCN to assess the threat. The scale ranges from “not endangered” to “extinct”.
The problem – the NGO points out – is the impact of man: the destruction of rural habitats through the intensification of agriculture, roads and urban development is leading to a decline of the Western European hedgehog.
The Western European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is also found in Italy as well as in Switzerland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain and in some parts of Scandinavia. It is estimated that in the last ten years their population has reduced, depending on the country, between 16 and 33%. Hedgehogs usually only give birth once a year.
Declines to some extent have been observed in more than half of the countries where this species occurs – they write from the Red List. Although survey data from other countries within this species’ range are lacking, declines are likely to occur in any area where this species is under pressure due to habitat change, intensive agricultural practices, and other threats in progress. Given evidence that a decline has approached and in some areas exceeded thresholds for the Red List population decline criterion (i.e. >30% in 10 years) across large parts of its distribution, this species is assessed as near threat both globally and for the EU27 region. Population monitoring is needed in regions without abundance and trend data.
The data shows that the species’ numbers have declined in more than half of the countries where it lives, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Nationally, numbers have shrunk by around 16-33% over the past decade, with local studies also reporting drops of up to 50% in Bavaria, Germany, and Flanders, Belgium.
