RESIDENTS in Caerphilly borough are able to help protect endangered animals with a council scheme.

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s countryside team has launched a hedgehog highway campaign to protect the endangered hedgehogs.

The council is offering residents a free ‘Hedgehog Highways’ pack to help connect gardens to allow hedgehogs to pass through, find more food, space to breed and keep them off the roads.

Hedgehogs travel around a mile every night through parks and gardens to find food and other hedgehogs to mate with, and enclosed gardens can lead to them having to take diversions which could end up on the roads.

Research by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and British Hedgehog Preservation Society showed the UK has lost a quarter of its hedgehog population in the past 10 years.

Reasons for this can include loss of habitat for nesting and foraging, impermeable fencing, the effects of hazards and certain garden practices.

Each of the Hedgehog Highway packs includes a hedgehog fence plaque to surround the hole in your fence for hedgehogs to access, a hedgehog survey tunnel and identification guide for footprints.

There are 250 packs available and it is limited to one per household. Proof of address will be required as only residents of the borough are able to apply for their free pack.

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If you send pictures of hedgehogs or the results of your survey once you have received your pack, you will be entered into a draw to win one of 30 hedgehog nest boxes for your garden.

To apply for your hedgehog highway pack, email countryside@caerphilly.gov.uk or call 01443 816853. You will need to provide your name, address, contact number or email address. You will then receive an application form. Once returned your pack will be sent to you.

The closing date for registration is August 17.