FLAT BUT NOT FINISHED - THANKS TO ONE MAN'S HOBBY
Animal lover Norman Headlock has a hobby with a difference – for rather than doing sudoku or drinking in the pub, he spends his spare time rebuilding hedgehogs that have been squashed on Froghill’s roads.
Mr Headlock, 53, of Bullfinch Close, Swansdike, has been reconditioning mangled and flattened hedgehogs in his garden shed for the past four years.
When he has fixed them up so they are once more capable of independent motion, he donates them to local businesses where they perform useful service as mobile invoice spikes.
Now he is appealing to the public to help him in his task of collecting battered specimens by asking people always to carry a bucket and spade whenever they walk anywhere.
He said: “Just because a hedgehog is dead, that doesn’t mean that it’s of no use. I’m asking people to pick up any roadkill they see and contact me so that I can collect it.”
In recycling the hedgehogs, Mr Headlock typically replaces the insides with a small electric motor. This he connects to the legs via a transmission system and a tiny gearbox. The whole arrangement is then powered by a nine-volt battery which is inserted into the animal’s anal passage. Once Mr Headlock has finished his conversion process, the rebuilt animal can function in an office environment for anything up to five years.
“It doesn’t matter how squashed the hedgehog is,” added Mr Headlock, “in fact, the flatter the better. That way I don’t have to go through the process of scooping out the innards with a teaspoon.
“That can get a bit smelly, to tell the truth,” he said.
If you find a squashed hedgehog while out for a walk, please scoop it up and place it in a bucket. Then contact Mr Headlock on 0372 49157 or e-mail spinynorman@blackmail.com
http://davidtennantsdoctor.wordpress.com/
19/02/07 @ 05:31