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Hedgehog help in the Canton of Fribourg

Have you found an injured, sick or unusual hedgehog in the Canton of Fribourg? On this page you will find the cantonal wildlife care station, important emergency contacts and information on how you can protect hedgehogs in Fribourg’s gardens, residential areas and municipalities.

In the Canton of Fribourg, hedgehogs live mainly at low and medium altitudes, especially in villages, residential areas, gardens, parks and on the richly structured edges of built-up areas. There they find hedges, leaf piles, brush piles, hiding places and food. At the same time, busy roads, sealed surfaces, impassable garden fences, pesticides and robotic lawnmowers operated at night are among their greatest dangers.

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A hedgehog in tall grass

Found a hedgehog – what should you do now?

Not every hedgehog needs human help. A healthy hedgehog is mainly active at dusk and at night. If you see a hedgehog during the day, this does not automatically mean that it is sick.

Action is needed in particular if the hedgehog:

  • is injured or bleeding
  • seems apathetic or does not roll up
  • staggers, walks in circles, wheezes or breathes heavily
  • is infested with flies, fly eggs or maggots
  • is noticeably thin or weak
  • lies unprotected in the sun for a long time
  • is a young hedgehog found obviously without its mother

  1. If possible, contact a hedgehog station before transporting the animal. The station can assess whether the hedgehog needs to be taken in and whether a care place is currently available.

    Hedgehog stations

  2. Until the handover, wearing gloves, you can place the hedgehog in a sufficiently high cardboard box. Line it with newspaper and a towel and put the box in a quiet place. Offer fresh water in a shallow dish. Never give the hedgehog cow’s milk and do not treat it yourself with medication or anti-parasite products.

Hedgehog stations and contact points in the Canton of Fribourg

According to the specialist directories currently available to the public, the Canton of Fribourg has one central, cantonally recognised wildlife care station that also takes in injured and sick hedgehogs.

Please always call first. Animals must not be dropped off at the care station without prior notice.

  • Wildtier-Pflegestation «Rita Roux»

    The Wildtier-Pflegestation «Rita Roux» of the Naturhistorisches Museum Freiburg takes in injured and sick small wild animals. The animals receive expert care and, where possible, are released back into the wild after their recovery.

    According to the canton, the station has cared for an average of around 500 wild animals per year in recent years. These are various species of birds and mammals – not exclusively hedgehogs.

    Animals are handed over via specially set up drop-off boxes. Contact the station by telephone before every handover and follow the instructions you receive. Animals can no longer be handed in directly at the station’s reception.

If the hedgehog station cannot be reached:

Emergency numbers that charge a fee may incur higher call charges. For a seriously injured hedgehog, you can also contact a veterinary practice or animal clinic. Before setting off, call to ask whether they treat hedgehogs or wild animals.

Note on this regional information page · As of: August 2026

This page brings together information and contact points for hedgehog protection in the Canton of Fribourg. It is not an independent branch or a cantonal authority. The specialist bodies listed are independent institutions. Admission conditions, availability and capacities may change at any time.

Cantonal contact points

The veterinary office is the right cantonal authority in particular for questions of animal welfare law, reports of problematic animal keeping or questions about care stations requiring a permit.

  • Amt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veterinärwesen Freiburg

    The Amt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veterinärwesen (LSVW) is responsible for animal health, animal welfare and legal questions relating to the keeping and care of wild animals. However, it is not a hedgehog emergency station and does not normally take on the immediate care of individual found animals.

    If you find an injured or weakened hedgehog, first contact the Wildtier-Pflegestation «Rita Roux» or a hedgehog emergency advice service.

  • Amt für Wald und Natur and cantonal game wardens

    The Fauna, Hunting and Fishing section of the Amt für Wald und Natur is responsible for protecting and promoting wild mammals, birds and their habitats. The Fribourg game warden service is divided into several regional supervision areas.

    You can find the game warden responsible for your area in the official overview of game wardens and fishing wardens in the Canton of Fribourg.

    For a sick or weakened hedgehog, the wildlife care station is the first point of contact. The game warden service is the right cantonal contact point particularly for questions about wild animals, protected species, habitats or special circumstances of a find.

Hedgehog sightings in the Canton of Fribourg

Sightings can be entered via the Switzerland-wide platform Wilde Nachbarn.

  • Such reports help to:

    • to add to the known distribution of hedgehogs
    • to identify regional gaps in knowledge
    • to document potential danger spots
    • to lay the groundwork for future studies
    • observe changes over several years

  • If possible, note down:

    • the date and time
    • the exact location of the sighting
    • the condition of the hedgehog
    • any particular dangers at the site
    • if possible, a photo taken from a safe distance

A sighting report is no substitute for emergency help. If a hedgehog is injured or weakened, a specialist body must also be contacted.

Why the Canton of Fribourg is challenging for hedgehogs

The Canton of Fribourg extends from the Three Lakes region across the densely populated Swiss Plateau to the Fribourg Pre-Alps. Particularly important for hedgehogs are the lower altitudes and the transitions between settlements, gardens, hedges, agricultural land and woodland edges.

In and around Fribourg, Bulle, Villars-sur-Glâne, Marly, Düdingen, Murten, Estavayer-le-Lac and many other municipalities, gardens and green spaces offer valuable places of refuge. At the same time, these habitats are increasingly cut off from one another by new developments, roads, sealed surfaces and impermeable property boundaries.

Hedgehogs sometimes cover long distances during their nightly search for food. Walls, close-meshed fences or fences closed right down to the ground, light wells, cellar steps, swimming pools and busy roads can interrupt their routes or become deadly traps.

The intensive use of agricultural land and the removal of hedges, leaves, deadwood and wild margins also reduce the availability of food and of sheltered places to sleep and nest.

Meadow with a barn, hedges and woodland edges near Attalens, with the Fribourg Pre-Alps behind
A hedgehog among daisies in the grass

How many hedgehogs live in the Canton of Fribourg?

There is currently no official or scientifically verified population figure for the Canton of Fribourg as a whole. Hedgehogs are nocturnal, move across large areas and are not systematically counted across the canton.

Sighting reports and the number of found animals brought in do not allow a reliable estimate either. The average of around 500 animals per year taken in by the «Rita Roux» care station covers various species of birds and mammals and must not be interpreted as the number of hedgehogs brought in or as the cantonal hedgehog population.

Rather than giving an unverified figure, it makes more sense to document sightings and to make known danger spots and suitable habitats visible.

Logs and gravel as a near-natural area

Protecting habitats in the Canton of Fribourg together

Private individuals, schools, municipalities, businesses, farms and horticultural businesses can all help to make the Canton of Fribourg safer for hedgehogs. What matters is not just individual natural gardens, but interconnected and permeable green spaces.

The following measures help hedgehogs directly:

  • keep leaf piles, brush piles and deadwood piles
  • plant native hedges and shrubs
  • create gaps of at least about 10 × 10 centimetres in garden fences
  • use robotic lawnmowers only during the day and under supervision
  • check long grass and margins before mowing
  • do without pesticides and slug pellets
  • secure light wells, stairwells and swimming pools
  • install shallow exit aids in ponds and water basins
  • leave areas of the garden untidy over the winter
  • do not take away or relocate hedgehogs you find without expert advice

In the bilingual Canton of Fribourg, protecting hedgehogs is a shared task across language and municipal boundaries. Hedgehog Help Switzerland provides information material and shares knowledge on the protection and care of hedgehogs and how to handle them correctly.

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We are also available by phone and are happy to help you with advice and practical support.

Whether you are looking for our hedgehog magazine full of helpful tips, information about hedgehog talks or materials for school projects – we provide everything free of charge to promote the welfare of hedgehogs.

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Expert knowledge on the care and treatment of hedgehogs

Free hedgehog courses for veterinary practice assistants throughout Switzerland

Hedgehog Help Switzerland offers free hedgehog courses for veterinary practice assistants throughout Switzerland. These courses are specially tailored to veterinary practice assistants who want to familiarise themselves with the particularities of hedgehog care and acquire professional knowledge of the medical treatment and care of hedgehogs. In veterinary practices, hedgehogs need special attention and expert care that differs from other wild animals – and this is exactly where our hedgehog courses for veterinary practice assistants come in.

In our courses you will learn everything about caring for and treating hedgehogs in a way that suits the species. We cover important topics such as correct feeding, stress management during treatment and recognising typical hedgehog diseases. Our hedgehog courses are offered both at our hedgehog station and directly at your veterinary practice – we work throughout Switzerland and adapt to your location and your schedule.

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