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> Actually, you are not allowed to have pet European hedgehogs in the UK. Why not??? They're protected species in much of Europe, so the law is to prevent peop

> Actually, you are not allowed to have pet European hedgehogs in the UK. Why not??? They're protected species in much of Europe, so the law is to prevent people from grabbing them out of their backyard. You can have African Pygmy Hedgehogs! My girlfriend and I owned 3, and they're adorable little menaces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hedgehog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hedgehog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-toed_hedgehog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-toed_hedgehog

zabzonk 2y ago
Seems a bit silly, seeing as hedgehogs are somewhat endangered in the UK. If they were bred for pets, we'd surely have more of them!
- jimnotgym 2y ago
  I find it funny that its top predator, the badger, is also protected, despite being very common.
  - zabzonk 2y ago
    I came across both on the same day back in the early 1970s. I was hitching up the A1 to Edinburgh and got stuck, then I came across a hog trying to cross the very busy road, so I grabbed it and ran across and dumped it in the verge. A little later, still with thumb stuck out, I heard rustling in the undergrowth, and this black and white critter waddled past me as if I wasn't there. Kind of sad that people don't hitch anymore. You come across all sorts of stuff and people. My little brother was in a garage band and wrote a song called "Stick Out Your Thumb And Have Some Fun", which I liked.
    - seabass-labrax 2y ago
      I'd love if hitchhiking made a revival. I've tried it once, but didn't get far. Well, actually, I didn't get anywhere at all! There's something about looking personable, well-groomed and attentive, and still being ignored by a succession of mostly empty vehicles that takes a toll on one's ego :( Good on you for rescuing the hedgehog though!
      - zabzonk 2y ago
        > didn't get anywhere at all I know, it was a bit soul destroying. In my experience, the thing to do was not to try too hard (a bit of Zen here, perhaps). I remember being dropped at a roundabout outside Doncaster UK where there were already a couple of other guys, which is usually the kiss of death for all concerned. So I went up the road's embankment, laid down and slept for an hour or so - it was a sunny day. When I woke the other guys had got lifts and I stuck out my thumb and got one too. The thing about hitching is that you want a little money in your pocket so that if you really do get stuck somewhere you can maybe get a bus to somewhere better, and you don't feel too powerless and miserable. Also, hitch with a pretty woman - me and my ex-wife hitched Edinburgh-Yorkshire-Wales and back, doing camping. The last bit back to Edinburgh was in a Rolls Royce!
        seabass-labrax 2y ago
        Ha, thanks for the tips! Knowing me though I'd lie down for a 'nap' and wake up eight hours later! Re. public transport, indeed the occasion when I tried hitchhiking was after missing the one of the two twice-a-day buses on a recent journey of mine from a remote village. However, I eventually caught a succession of unlikely connections further on; I ended up arriving earlier than expected even without successfully hitchhiking, so all's well that ends well!
      - masfuerte 2y ago
        There were still quite a few hitchhikers in the mid-1990s and I would always pick them up. I heard some tall tales but I never felt threatened. People have become absurdly risk-averse.
      - sandworm101 2y ago
        It is increasingly illegal, for the drivers too. They don't want people walking on highways, nor cars stopping randomly.
      - jimnotgym 2y ago
        The people who deliver new cars in the UK are well known for hitchhiking home. I think they are on a fixed fee, so hitching saves them money. You will see them holding their 'trade plates' (temporary registration plates that dealers can use without having to tax and insure the car registration) out to let other professional drivers know they are professionals. I met one in the Midlands once who had already driven to Edinburgh and hitched all the way back in the day. You often see them on the exits of motorway services where a lorry driver has dropped them so they can find someone going their way.
  - jamiek88 2y ago
    Badgers are protected mostly because of badger ‘baiting’ which is a medieval blood sport the populace is repulsed by yet is a persistent subculture.
    - zabzonk 2y ago
      A bit more complicated than that. There also issues about the spread of tuberculosis to cattle which encourages badger culls, but may or may not actually happen much. Baiting is obviously horrible though. And we in the UK also have vile "sports" such as hare-coursing. But we have more or less got rid of fox hunting.
      - jimnotgym 2y ago
        I'm interested that you put hare coursing in a similar category to badger baiting. I have a semi religious attachment to hares, as do many country people, so I wouldn't do it. However, coursing hares or rabbits doesn't appear more cruel than any other way of killing them to me. I think it is odd to turn it into a competition, but that shouldn't stop a solitary hunter.
        zabzonk 2y ago
        I suppose the cruelty aspect is somewhat arguable, but the people doing coursing are almost all criminal gangs who, at the same time as coursing, do a lot of theft and damage in the rural environment here in Lincolnshire.
        jimnotgym 2y ago
        That's ok then, there is already a law against being in a criminal gang and against stealing! I don't agree with the constant stream of legislating against things that are already illegal! (Half)joking aside, I do understand that Lincolnshire has a much worse problem than my native Welsh border country. Our smaller fields and undulating ground make coursing much more difficult. We also don't have the density of hares.
        2y ago
  - rurp 2y ago
    I'm glad to hear that badgers are doing well somewhere at least. They used to be common in the western US but their numbers have plummeted due to over killing, habitat loss, vehicle deaths, and other causes.

zabzonk 2y ago

Seems a bit silly, seeing as hedgehogs are somewhat endangered in the UK. If they were bred for pets, we'd surely have more of them!

jimnotgym 2y ago
I find it funny that its top predator, the badger, is also protected, despite being very common.
- zabzonk 2y ago
  I came across both on the same day back in the early 1970s. I was hitching up the A1 to Edinburgh and got stuck, then I came across a hog trying to cross the very busy road, so I grabbed it and ran across and dumped it in the verge. A little later, still with thumb stuck out, I heard rustling in the undergrowth, and this black and white critter waddled past me as if I wasn't there. Kind of sad that people don't hitch anymore. You come across all sorts of stuff and people. My little brother was in a garage band and wrote a song called "Stick Out Your Thumb And Have Some Fun", which I liked.
  - seabass-labrax 2y ago
    I'd love if hitchhiking made a revival. I've tried it once, but didn't get far. Well, actually, I didn't get anywhere at all! There's something about looking personable, well-groomed and attentive, and still being ignored by a succession of mostly empty vehicles that takes a toll on one's ego :( Good on you for rescuing the hedgehog though!
    - zabzonk 2y ago
      > didn't get anywhere at all I know, it was a bit soul destroying. In my experience, the thing to do was not to try too hard (a bit of Zen here, perhaps). I remember being dropped at a roundabout outside Doncaster UK where there were already a couple of other guys, which is usually the kiss of death for all concerned. So I went up the road's embankment, laid down and slept for an hour or so - it was a sunny day. When I woke the other guys had got lifts and I stuck out my thumb and got one too. The thing about hitching is that you want a little money in your pocket so that if you really do get stuck somewhere you can maybe get a bus to somewhere better, and you don't feel too powerless and miserable. Also, hitch with a pretty woman - me and my ex-wife hitched Edinburgh-Yorkshire-Wales and back, doing camping. The last bit back to Edinburgh was in a Rolls Royce!
      - seabass-labrax 2y ago
        Ha, thanks for the tips! Knowing me though I'd lie down for a 'nap' and wake up eight hours later! Re. public transport, indeed the occasion when I tried hitchhiking was after missing the one of the two twice-a-day buses on a recent journey of mine from a remote village. However, I eventually caught a succession of unlikely connections further on; I ended up arriving earlier than expected even without successfully hitchhiking, so all's well that ends well!
    - masfuerte 2y ago
      There were still quite a few hitchhikers in the mid-1990s and I would always pick them up. I heard some tall tales but I never felt threatened. People have become absurdly risk-averse.
    - sandworm101 2y ago
      It is increasingly illegal, for the drivers too. They don't want people walking on highways, nor cars stopping randomly.
    - jimnotgym 2y ago
      The people who deliver new cars in the UK are well known for hitchhiking home. I think they are on a fixed fee, so hitching saves them money. You will see them holding their 'trade plates' (temporary registration plates that dealers can use without having to tax and insure the car registration) out to let other professional drivers know they are professionals. I met one in the Midlands once who had already driven to Edinburgh and hitched all the way back in the day. You often see them on the exits of motorway services where a lorry driver has dropped them so they can find someone going their way.
- jamiek88 2y ago
  Badgers are protected mostly because of badger ‘baiting’ which is a medieval blood sport the populace is repulsed by yet is a persistent subculture.
  - zabzonk 2y ago
    A bit more complicated than that. There also issues about the spread of tuberculosis to cattle which encourages badger culls, but may or may not actually happen much. Baiting is obviously horrible though. And we in the UK also have vile "sports" such as hare-coursing. But we have more or less got rid of fox hunting.
    - jimnotgym 2y ago
      I'm interested that you put hare coursing in a similar category to badger baiting. I have a semi religious attachment to hares, as do many country people, so I wouldn't do it. However, coursing hares or rabbits doesn't appear more cruel than any other way of killing them to me. I think it is odd to turn it into a competition, but that shouldn't stop a solitary hunter.
      - zabzonk 2y ago
        I suppose the cruelty aspect is somewhat arguable, but the people doing coursing are almost all criminal gangs who, at the same time as coursing, do a lot of theft and damage in the rural environment here in Lincolnshire.
        jimnotgym 2y ago
        That's ok then, there is already a law against being in a criminal gang and against stealing! I don't agree with the constant stream of legislating against things that are already illegal! (Half)joking aside, I do understand that Lincolnshire has a much worse problem than my native Welsh border country. Our smaller fields and undulating ground make coursing much more difficult. We also don't have the density of hares.
      - 2y ago
- rurp 2y ago
  I'm glad to hear that badgers are doing well somewhere at least. They used to be common in the western US but their numbers have plummeted due to over killing, habitat loss, vehicle deaths, and other causes.