Forword by Virginia McKenna     Founder of The Born Free Foundation

If, as I did, you grew up with Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle, you will already have an abiding affection for hedgehogs. Such affection is not usually accompanied by any real understanding of this fascinating animal. But, after reading The Natural Hedgehog, all Mrs Tiggywinkle fans, as well as readers “meeting” hedgehogs for the first time, will be enriched and enlightened as they reach the final page.

Animals have a tough life nowadays – threatened, it would seem, on all sides. And it appears to make no difference if, as hedgehogs were, you were once worshipped as a god and revered as a religious symbol. One only has to look at elephants to realise that, for an animal, such status affords no real protection.

Essentially, this book is about looking after injured, sick or orphaned hedgehogs – but in a very special way. A natural way. Lenni’s homeopathic treatment and alternative remedies are remarkable for their details and comprehensiveness. I read with growing admiration for this holistic approach to animal care. It is this approach and the appraisal of the importance of the individual animal that made this book so attractive to me. That and Jane’s delicate and delightful pictures that simply and vividly bring to life the character and personality of the hedgehog and the environment in which it tries to survive.

Hedgehogs are fortunate indeed to have such a champion. The healing skills and painstaking care Jane bestows on each patient in her Welsh Hedgehog Hospital reveal to us a person of sensitivity and compassion. I have been informed, fascinated and delighted by this book and, if I now see a hedgehog in my garden, I will see much more than a “Mrs Tiggywinkle”, but my affection will be undiminished.