Hedgehog believed to be Scotland’s heaviest ever put on diet

June 28 (UPI) — The New Arc Animal Rescue Centre in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, has received a massive hedgehog that they believe might be the heaviest ever recorded in the country.

The hedgehog, named Arbuckle, was taken in by a well meaning individual last year due to seeming too light to survive the winter. After caring for the hedgehog, the man noticed that Arbuckle did not want to leave when spring had arrived.

“We believe we know the reason,” New Arc said on Facebook alongside a photo of the chubby hedgehog who weighed in at 2.335 kilograms or about five pounds.

“Arbuckle weighed in at a massive 2.335 Kilos which might well make him Scotland’s heaviest ever hedgehog, if not the U.K.’s. At roughly 4 times the weight of an average hedgehog for this time of year.
Arbuckle can hardly walk and is unable to curl into a defensive ‘ball’ so needs to go on a diet if he is to have any chance of surviving in the wild,” New Arc continued. “This will have to be a gradual process and we can only hope that his internal organs and bone structure can adapt and that any damage done is reversible.”

“He will be fed a restricted diet which is filling, and scatter his food around for exercise. It will be a long, gradual process,” Keith Marley of New Arc said to BBC about the diet Arbuckle will be placed on.

“He will be grumpy for a while but we’re being cruel to be kind. There is no way he would survive in the wild,” he continued.