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Hedgehog help in the canton of Valais

Have you found an injured, sick or unusual-looking hedgehog in the canton of Valais? Here you can find out when a hedgehog needs help, which regional hedgehog stations and advice centres you can contact and how you can protect its habitat in Valais.

The canton extends from German-speaking Upper Valais through Central Valais to French-speaking Lower Valais. The lower-lying and warmer settlement areas in the Rhône valley, as well as structurally rich villages, gardens, vineyards and agricultural land, are particularly suitable for hedgehogs.

There are several private hedgehog stations and voluntary aid organisations in Valais. Their admission capacities can change at short notice. Please therefore never bring a hedgehog to a station without notice, but make contact by telephone first.

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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 Valais

The following centres are listed by regional organisations as contact points for hedgehogs in Valais. As many helpers work on a voluntary basis, immediate availability or admission cannot be guaranteed.

  • Association Tombapic in Saxon

    The Association Tombapic is a voluntary Valais organisation that cares for, rears and releases injured, sick and orphaned hedgehogs back into the wild. The care centre is located in Saxon. The organisation works together with the Erminea wildlife care centre in Chavornay.

    Tombapic expressly points out that the organisation is not a 24-hour emergency service. If nobody answers immediately, please leave a message and secure the hedgehog temporarily in accordance with the first aid instructions.

    Care centre

    • Association Tombapic
    • Rue Gottefrey 6, 1907 Saxon

    Administrative address

    • Association Tombapic, c/o Sandrine Joly
    • Rue de la Combe 7, 1957 Ardon

    Telephone

    For administrative enquiries, the organisation asks you to send a WhatsApp message.

    Current information and any changes to the contacts can be found on the website of the Association Tombapic.

  • Igelstation Ingrid Furrer in Agarn

    For Upper Valais, the Igelstation Ingrid Furrer in Agarn is listed as a regional contact point. Advice is given mainly in German.

    • Igelstation Ingrid Furrer
    • Langgasse 31, 3951 Agarn
    • 079 664 17 57

    Please call at normal times of day and arrange a handover before driving to the station with a hedgehog.

  • Association Héris-San in Saint-Maurice

    Héris-San is an organisation in Saint-Maurice dedicated to the rescue and care of hedgehogs. Its current contact page does not publish a clearly assigned general telephone number.

    • Association Héris-San
    • Route des Emonets 23a, 1890 Saint-Maurice

    Please use the Héris-San contact form or consult the emergency page published there.

    Do not drop off a hedgehog without notice. First check whether the organisation can be reached and has a free care place.

Further contacts in Valais

The following contacts are listed by specialised regional hedgehog organisations as contact points in Valais. Before setting off, you must check by telephone whether admission is possible.

  • Bernard Bochy in Vétroz

  • SOS Hérissons Chablais

    This contact point is aimed in particular at people from the Valais and Vaud Chablais.

  • Sauve Qui Pique

    This contact point offers general advice but is not designated as an acute emergency service. You are asked to send a WhatsApp message.

An up-to-date overview of regional care stations is also published by Sauve Qui Pique.

Veterinary practices for urgent cases

If no hedgehog station can be reached and the hedgehog is seriously injured, bleeding heavily or having difficulty breathing, a veterinary practice should be contacted immediately.

The following practices are named by a regional hedgehog organisation as contact points that generally also treat hedgehogs. Always call first.

  • Cabinet vétérinaire Cat’Pattes & Cie

  • Pratique vétérinaire Champs Neufs Bagnoud et Spahr

  • Cabinet vétérinaire Au Petit Chat

A veterinary practice is not automatically a longer-term care station. Therefore, ask at the same time which hedgehog station can take over the animal after medical treatment.

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 points of contact for hedgehog protection in the canton of Valais. It is not an independent Valais branch, nor is it a cantonal authority.

The hedgehog stations, organisations and care stations listed are independent or privately run services. Responsibilities, availability and admission capacity can change at short notice. Please therefore always make contact by phone first.

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.

  • Cantonal veterinary service of Valais

    The Dienststelle für Verbraucherschutz und Veterinärwesen is responsible for enforcing animal welfare and animal health legislation.

    • Dienststelle für Verbraucherschutz und Veterinärwesen
    • Route de la Piscine 12, Gebäude 10B, Postfach 670, 1951 Sitten
    • 027 606 74 50
    • Opening hours:
      Monday to Thursday: 08:00–11:30 and 13:30–16:30
      Friday and the day before public holidays: 08:00–11:30 and 13:30–16:00
      Visits by appointment only
    • ovet@admin.vs.ch
    • Veterinary affairs, canton of Valais

    The office moved to Route de la Piscine 12 on 25 February 2026. Some older directories still list the previous address at Rue Pré-d’Amédée 2.

    The veterinary service is the competent cantonal authority in particular for questions relating to animal welfare law, uncertainties about approved care stations or general questions about keeping and caring for wild animals.

    The veterinary service is not a hedgehog station and does not normally take on the direct care of individual found animals. If you find an injured or sick hedgehog, you should therefore first contact a hedgehog station or a hedgehog emergency advice service.

  • Other cantonal wildlife office

    The Dienststelle für Jagd, Fischerei und Wildtiere is responsible for general questions about wild mammals and cantonal wildlife management. However, it is not a hedgehog station and not a regular emergency service for individual found animals.

Report hedgehog sightings in Valais

Sightings can be recorded on the Nos voisins sauvages Valais platform.

Such reports do not replace a scientific population count. However, they help specialist bodies to document the distribution of hedgehogs, identify gaps in knowledge and locate potential danger spots.

  • If possible, note down:

    • the date and time
    • the exact location of the sighting
    • the condition of the hedgehog
    • whether the animal was found alive or dead
    • any particular dangers at the site
    • if possible, a photo taken from a safe distance

If a hedgehog is injured or in urgent need of help, a sighting report is not enough. Please also contact a hedgehog station or veterinary practice.

Why Valais is a special habitat

Thanks to its topography and inner-Alpine climate, Valais offers particular conditions. Hedgehogs find suitable habitats above all in:

  • green residential neighbourhoods in the Rhône Valley
  • natural private gardens
  • parks and cemeteries
  • orchards and vineyards
  • hedges and planted embankments
  • structurally diverse village edges
  • transitions between settlements and farmland

Built-up areas around Brig-Glis, Visp, Leuk, Sierre, Sion, Conthey, Saxon, Fully, Martigny, Saint-Maurice and Monthey can provide suitable habitats.

At the same time, motorways, cantonal roads, railway lines, canals, walls, vineyard terraces and heavily sealed surfaces make their nightly journeys more difficult. On slopes, retaining walls, shafts and steep embankments can become insurmountable obstacles or traps.

Severe drought and summer heat are additional regional challenges. During longer dry spells, hedgehogs find fewer earthworms, beetles and other invertebrates. Freely accessible sources of water therefore become particularly important.

Vineyard in the foreground, behind it Visp in the Rhône Valley between the mountains
A hedgehog among daisies in the grass

How many hedgehogs live in the canton of Valais?

There is currently no scientifically established total figure for all the hedgehogs living in Valais. Hedgehogs are nocturnal, move across several properties and are not counted across the whole area.

For Valais, however, there is concrete survey data from the project “Hérisson, es-tu en Valais?”. In 2020, sighting reports from the public were combined with a systematic survey using footprint tunnels.

In total:

  • 114 hedgehog sightings were reported from across the canton
  • 439 footprint tunnels were checked over five nights each
  • 45 square kilometres in various areas of Valais were surveyed
  • the towns of Brig-Glis, Sion, Martigny and Monthey were included
  • additional surveys were carried out in Ernen, Grengiols and several municipalities around Leuk

The 114 sightings do not correspond to 114 different hedgehogs. A single animal may have been seen and reported several times.

The footprint tunnels do not count individual animals either. They merely show whether a hedgehog has passed through a tunnel. A canton-wide population figure cannot be calculated from these results.

The survey showed large differences between municipalities and, in some cases, considerable gaps in the known distribution. As comparable older data is lacking, it is not possible to reliably assess whether the hedgehog population in Valais has declined.

The results and the short report are available on the project page “Hérisson, es-tu en Valais?”.

A hedgehog among stones

Hedgehogs from the Rhône Valley up to over 1’500 metres

Most hedgehog sightings in Valais come from the Rhône Valley and lower-lying built-up areas. There the animals find a comparatively warm climate, gardens, hedges, orchards, vineyards and other richly structured habitats.

However, the 2020 project showed that hedgehogs can also occur at considerably higher altitudes:

  • Near Les Giettes above Monthey, hedgehog tracks were found at an altitude of around 1’300 metres.
  • At Unnerbrunnu near Visperterminen, three young hedgehogs were observed at an altitude of around 1’528 metres.
  • Hedgehog tracks were also found in Ernen and Grengiols.

These sightings show that hedgehogs in Valais do not live exclusively on the valley floor. In higher, steeper and cooler areas, however, their occurrence is likely to be considerably more patchy.

Natural green space with branches, boulders and young shrubs next to a company building, with a village in the background

Protecting habitats in Valais together

Hedgehog protection works across property and municipal boundaries. A single natural garden is valuable. Even more helpful is a whole neighbourhood with permeable fences, native plants, safe water points and interconnected green spaces.

Private individuals, municipalities, schools, businesses as well as farms, wine-growing and horticultural businesses can help to preserve safe routes and places of refuge for hedgehogs.

With new developments and redesigns, consideration should be given not only to individual green spaces, but also to their connection with neighbouring habitats. Permeable fences, unsealed surfaces and safe ways out help not only hedgehogs but also amphibians, reptiles, insects and other native species.

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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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