Hedgehog dies after being spray-painted by yobs 'to look like Sonic'
Yobs who spray-painted the back of a hedgehog blue to make it look like "Sonic" have been slammed by a rescue centre after it died in pain.
The adult male was found by a farmer in one of his fields just behind Wakefield Police Station, after it appeared he had been painted to look like the cartoon character.
The paint was sprayed so close to a large area of the animal's back that the chemicals burned off "several" layers of skin and also caused its spines to "melt away".
The poor animal was rushed to nearby Castleford Hedgehog Rescue arriving around 4 pm on Tuesday (Oct 27), but tragically died the next morning of his injuries.
Beth Campsill, 29, who runs the charity and tried to save the hedgehog, said it was the worst case of spray paint-based cruelty she has seen in her 16 years.
The animal lover said: "When the hedgehog was brought to us he was screaming in pain. I gave the poor thing the maximum pain relief I could, but he didn't stop, he effectively screamed himself to death.
"I don't know how anyone could be so cruel to an animal. It is disgusting. I haven't seen anything as bad or as sad as this in a long time."
According to Beth, the hedgehog died due to an infection caused by the chemical burns as well as potentially being poisoned by the toxins in the paint.
Beth posted about the tiny nocturnal creature on her Facebook page, with several people commenting it could be an antiseptic spray to treat livestock.
But Beth believes it was a form of spray paint due to its "thick texture" and how it burned the skin, something she says an antiseptic spray wouldn't do.
She also had to scrape it off its remaining spines which hadn't already fallen out.
The spiney vertebrate was also suffering "flystrike" - when flies lay eggs on an animal's wounds and soft tissue, and the hatched maggots feed on and burrow into the animal's flesh, according to the RSPCA.
Flystrike is also potentially fatal and Beth said the animal most likely would have endured a "slow and ultimately and extremely painful death" in the wild.
She said: "I'm glad he was brought in as it meant at least we could ease his suffering and make him feel comfortable."
Hedgehogs are in decline in Britain and are now listed as "vulnerable" on Britain's red list of mammals.
According to the latest State of Britain's hedgehogs report, numbers of hedgehogs have fallen by up to 30 per cent in urban areas and 50 per cent in rural areas since the turn of the century.
Beth says she will report the incident to the police, but is unsure if the person responsible will be "held responsible" due to the location where it was found.