His dream is to soon open a Hedgehog Hospital, but in the meantime he has created a Center where he has managed to save around 4.000. Massimo Vacchetta is a veterinarian who has become very popular thanks to the extraordinary work he does, with his professional team, to assist, treat and save the injured hedgehogs, and then release them back into the wild. His professional life is divided into two parts. In the first, Vacchetta, 57, has his own studio, and his activity focuses on calving the cattle of the Langhe. Work is going swimmingly, until one day Massimo, while replacing a sick colleague, opens a box and finds a curly A crying wildcat. It's a newborn, weighs 25 grams, and needs immediate care to avoid death.
The rescue is successful, but from that moment on Massimo no longer wants an ordinary life as a provincial veterinarian. He thinks big and focuses on hedgehogs, wild animals, often victims of pesticides and the hand of man: in 2014 he opened the first Hedgehog Recovery Centre in Novello, in the province of Cuneo, and called it «The Lullaby», in honor of the first hedgehog saved by Vacchetta's hand.
The Urchin Center, led by Vacchetta, operates at full capacity thanks to a team of seven employees and several generous volunteers. Since 2014, 4000 wild urchins have been rescued, cared for, and released back into the wild. Urchins are vital to marine ecosystems, as they feed on algae present on the rocky substrate at depths ranging from the surface to approximately 80 meters. It's no coincidence that the hedgehog is classified among herbivores(ograzers) most efficient present in the ecosystem. It can live up to 7-10 years, but nowadays it rarely exceeds 3 years of age, also due to the climate crisis: excessively high temperatures cause massacres due to thermal shock and dehydration.
Although they have been present on the planet for 15 million years, that is, before the arrival of theHomo sapiens, For some years now, hedgehogs have been an increasingly endangered species: the International Union for theNature Conservancy has reported a decline in hedgehogs in Europe of 16 to 33 percent over the last 10 years and has placed them on the list of mammals whose survival is in danger.
The Hedgehog Recovery Center has a Facebook page . A very popular website (with nearly 270 followers), where Vacchetta's team updates on their activities and rescues. And they also broaden their horizons to include other animals to be protected and cared for. At the same time, the veterinarian who helped the cattle give birth has become a widely read author. His first book, 25 grams of happiness, where he tells the story of Ninna, has been translated into 14 languages, while in the last book, Tell me something nice (Sperling and Kupfer editions), stories of hedgehogs and the rescue of the delfine Kasya, which occurred during the pandemic.
Hedgehogs, let's remember, cannot be kept indoors: it's illegal. Yet, many videos and photographs of domesticated hedgehogs circulate online. And they need to be cared for, as they are very delicate animals, with a body length of between 25 and 27 centimeters. In the Canton of Ticino, an association was founded: Friends of hedgehogs which deals with the protection of this special animal. And manages a hedgehog hospital In the municipality of Maggia, where an average of about 400 hedgehogs are admitted each year, crushed by a car, struck by a lawnmower blade, or bitten by a guard dog.
The images are taken from the Facebook page of the Hedgehog Recovery Centre "La Ninna"
