A 10-year-old girl who has helped to build two houses for hedgehogs is hoping more people will follow suit after the animals were classified as vulnerable to extinction.

Karalynn Crosswell, from Sittingbourne, helped her dad, Mark, build the two homes after deciding she to wanted to protect the spiny mammals.

Her mum, Natalie, said: “Karalynn heard that, a couple of doors up from us, they had a hedgehog coming and eating their cat food. She asked if we could make a house to see if any hedgehogs would come here.

“She helped my husband knock a box up out of an old arts and crafts table, we’ve put bowls in it for food and water, and some hay so they can sleep. We’ve also put a camera in the box and built another one out of a tree trunk.”

Mrs Crosswell said she had a motion detector on her smartphone, which alerted her every time there was a movement in the box.

“We’ve been capturing them entering, eating and drinking – they’re loving the habitats,” the 40-year-old said. “Every night at about 10pm the motion sensor goes off and you can see them coming up the tunnel. There’s two of them at the moment.”

“Karralyn loves anything to do with wildlife. As soon as there’s a motion detected, she jumps out of bed, puts her dressing gown on and we sit listening to them crunching away. She just can’t believe they’re in there.”

As of Thursday, July 30, the British hedgehog was officially classified as vulnerable to extinction after they were included in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List for British Mammals.

Mrs Crosswell said she and her daughter were hoping others would join in and do more to help the mammals survive.

The mother-of-four said: “We hope it spurs others on to look after them and save so many, especially before the winter months set in. We need to protect them for the future.”

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