'Green' jail goes the whole hog...

Moorland Prison has just become the site for release for three hedgehogs which are ready for the outside world after being reared by Warmsworth Hedgehog Hospital's Kate Deaking.

For more than 10 years Kate has cared for hundreds of sick hedgehogs that otherwise would not have survived.

She has been offering a home to animals which have been found out and about during the day when they should be sleeping. Sometimes she looks after them for several months.

Once the hedgehogs are fit and healthy again Kate releases them back into the wild.

But three of the rescued animals - named Jan, Joan and Sue after members of staff at the prison - have now been released into the prison's wildlife area because it is a closed environment which is free from predators which could attack them in the wild.

The move follows a call to Kate from Chris George, the deputy estates manager at the prison, asking if it would be possible for her to bring some of her rescued hedgehogs. After taking a trip over to Moorland to inspect the suitability of the site Kate agreed it was an appropriate location and she and her fellow hedgehog carer Edna Wren set the trio free.

Chris, Estates Manager Martin Skinner and staff members James Myers and Janet Kelshaw were there to welcome them and help with the release.

Chris said: "A wealth of wildlife thrives around individual establishments from city centre prisons such as Wormwood Scrubs to very rural settings such as Moorlands Closed.

"With this in mind, in 2005 Moorlands was designated as one of 10 most significant sites of biodiversity interest within the prison service."

The prison has a biodiversity action plan to monitor and look at ways it can protect the species living in its grounds which include adders, barn owls, emperor dragonflies and bats.

Some of the inmates are making wooden boxes from recycled timber for the hedgehogs.