NTM commemorates World Wildlife Day – Help save hedgehogs

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NTM commemorates World Wildlife Day - Help save hedgehogs

Photograph by Nature Trust Malta

Nature Trust Malta is marking World Wildlife Day, which is commemorated on the 3rd of March, launching a crowdfunding campaign for Hedgehog Road Signs

NTM said that, all animals, plants and micro-organisms that inhabit Malta and the rest of the world have an intrinsic value contributing to the wellbeing of every individual.

“This together with providing an ecological value in maintaining ecosystems and an economic value in the direct use of resources such as food, wood, textiles and other natural products.”

Nature Trust – FEE Malta appealed to everyone to take care of local wildlife which is today under several threats, resulting from an ever expanding human population that is straining the Earth and its biodiversity and resources.

“Consumerism, habitat loss and fragmentation, over development, pollution, introduction of alien and invasive species, climate change and overexploitation are all major threats across the globe that are also being observed in the Maltese Islands,” the NGO said.

According to Nature Trust Malta, field observations and many reports have shown that local species “are feeling the brunt of this lack of environmental care – wildlife has been found killed or injured on land and in our seas directly because of litter or pollution while other species are becoming rarer as they are being exploited for food.”

Maltese biodiversity is also suffering genetically, NTM said, as natural corridors between localities are being lost resulting in the increase of genetically linked diseases in populations that are decreasing in size and inbreeding with a limited number of individuals.

NT-FEE Malta added that it has been involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife since the early 1990s.

Last year, just above 150 rescue calls were received by the NGO, from which about 100 were hedgehogs and 44 were turtles, 16 of which were dead.

Other wildlife rescued by NT-FEE Malta included bats, snakes and chameleons. Any injured wildlife can be reported on 99999505.

NT-FEE Malta is currently collecting monetary donations for medication and equipment related to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and has started a crowdfunding campaign to add more hedgehog road signs across Malta and Gozo.

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