Four men arrested after hedgehog painted in Leeds United colours
Four men have been arrested after a hedgehog was painted in the colours of Leeds United, it has emerged.
West Yorkshire Police Wildlife and Rural Crime team said they arrested four men aged 44, 21, 17 and 15 over the weekend.
They were arrested on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal contrary to Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
It comes as last Monday (July 13) a woman found an adult female hedgehog which appeared to have been painted in the Leeds United football colours of yellow and blue or as Sonic the Hedgehog at her home in Yeadon, in Leeds.
The paint meant that the spiny mammal was unable to "curl up" into a ball and was left with "breathing problems" due to the fumes from the paint.
Staff at Prickly Pigs Hedgehog Rescue in based in Otley, who took in the animal, had to scrub clean the oil-based paint from each individual spine and administer pain relief.
Diane Cook, 51, who owns the rescue shelter, said whether it is football-related or not, the actions were "absolutely appalling".
According to Diane, because the creature had restricted movement, it had no way of defending itself from predators and could have easily been "killed".
Or even worse, slowly starved to death or succumbed to malnutrition.
Diane - who runs the shelter from her converted garage - said the paint was so "thick and tough it had 'glued' her spines together".
The animal lover also said the paint was similar to emulsion used for decorating or even one used for road marking road surfaces.
Police chiefs said that all four have been bailed for further enquiries to take place.
A spokesperson for the force said: "Four arrests have been made after a hedgehog was sprayed blue in the Yeadon area.
"Over the weekend four men aged, 44, 21, 17 and 15 were arrested on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal contrary to Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
"All four have been bailed for further enquires to take place.”
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% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas since the turn of the century.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101,quoting reference 13260401913, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.