HAVING been an avid reader of your columns over the years I wonder if this little incident may be of interest.

Have you ever seen or heard of 'hedgehogs on a high?"

In my garden I watched a young hedgehog snuffling about in search of peanuts which we had put out for the birds.

The little fellow suddenly made a bee line for a piece of rag which I had left lying around and which was soaked in white spirit.

It began sniffing and sucking the rag and thinking that it might harm the hedgehog I tried to take it away.

The hedgehog thrashed about as if in a trance and refused to let go. Was it "out of it's tree?"

John V Ratcliffe, Brownhill Drive, Blackburn

RON'S REPLY:

THERE are two points of interest here. Firstly, hedgehogs love peanuts and recent research has shown that they are actually good for them.

You should never give hedgehogs either fish or milk, the latter can be fatal to them.

Secondly, hedgehogs do have an attraction to poisons and their bodies have more resistance to toxins than we humans do.

In hedgehogs the sucking of poisons is called self anointing. They have been seen to suck up creosote, battery acid and less noxious substances such as soap or candles.

John has now added white spirit to the list. Are they on a "fix?" Experts think not.

Experts think that they spread the substances onto their spines and potential predators leave the hedgehogs alone. Thus self-anointing therefore makes sense.