Hedgehogs, like humans, have a thing for ice cream. But because hedgehogs lack the ability to tackle a pint of Cherry Garcia with a spoon, they can only satisfy their ice cream cravings by, say, licking the insides of discarded McFlurry cups.

Sadly, in so doing, an astonishing number of hedgehogs in Europe get their spikey little noggins stuck in the McFlurry’s lid and starve to death.

I applauded the British Hedgehog Preservation Society back in September of 2006 when they succeeded in getting McDonald’s to redesign the McFlurry lids after “untold numbers”  of British hedgehogs had died in this unfortunate way.

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Britain’s hedgehogs are staying up way past their bedtime thanks to an unseasonably warm winter. Beryl Steadman, who runs a hedgehog hospital out of her  garage in Pembrokeshire, Wales, told the BBC that she’s currently looking after eleven wide-awaked, confused hedgehogs:

“They are not hibernating - usually they would do so between October and November up to March or April,” she said.   

“Usually this would be a quiet time, for me but it’s very busy.

“The problem is the food. The slugs and snails are not out there for them in the wild and they’re coming here underweight.”

Watch a happy hedgehog chow down on a carrot in the YouTube video posted above, and learn more about “the rescue, welfare, promotion and care of hedgehogs everywhere” from the International Hedgehog Association.