Ten overweight hedgehogs had to go on strict diets and exercise regimes after eating too much on the streets of Israel.
The hedgehogs struggled to curl up into a ball to fend off predators. Animal lovers found them waddling around and brought them into the hospital at Ramat Gan Safari Zoo.
Staff at the hospital said the hedgehogs had probably been snacking on food left out for pets.
“A lot of people put cat food on the streets for the stray cats, which is very nice but ... the problem is that there’s other wildlife that eats it,” zookeeper Becka Rifkin said.
One adult male named Sherman was 1.6 kg when he arrived at the facility two months ago, almost double the average weight for a hedgehog his age.
He has since lost 120 grams after staff monitored his diet and left him to run around an enclosure. They hope he will be fit for release by summer. – Reuters