A hedgehog is set for release after being rescued as a baby.

Pea the hedgehog first entered Prickly Prickles rescue in Dorchester when he was no bigger than a thumb, weighing just 18 grams, now after a lot of care and attention he weighs nearly 40 times his original weight and is set to be released.

Dorset Echo: Pea as a baby

The hedgehog, now weighing 700 grams, entered the care of Chris Legg, founder of the self-funded Prickly Prickles rescue after her niece found him at a farm.

Ms Legg said: “For some reason there was this little pink thing on the ground and when she went and picked it up and it was still alive, so she contacted my husband straight away and brought it straight up.

“He was no bigger than a thumb, so pink and delicate and they’re just so wafer thin and vulnerable, and I was quite shocked to see the size of him.

“Pea was just so special and I was so determined to give up all my time and really work on him as hard as I have – although I work on all of them as hard as I can – there was just something about pea.

“It’s amazing how a baby that small changes in the days that you have it, he is just adorable and he’s soon going out and I will soft release him in a pen in my garden and then I will let him go in my garden.”

Dorset Echo: Pea now

Ms Legg opened the rescue in the back of her garden in 2019 after the one she previously worked for shut down, and she hasn’t looked back since, caring for over 400 hedgehogs over the years.

The 65-year-old said: “I just love them, they’re so adorable and they need help, it’s hard work, but it’s all worthwhile.”

“Some people think that they can become too much of a pet, but I don’t really believe that, I have been Pea’s mum from the beginning and he’s very good with me, if I go to his cage, he knows I’m around - he’s done so well and I’m really proud to have got him this far.”

One of Ms Legg’s most memorable litters was her very first litter of 5 babies in 2018 which she hand reared in the back bedroom of her house.

She said: “They were absolutely adorable, and I got them all through it was an amazing experience.

“We’re a self-funded rescue, we do get a lot of donations and if that didn’t happen then we wouldn’t be able to keep running.”

If you would like to donate to Prickly Prickles you can contact Chris via pricklyprickles@hotmail.com or 07747344042.