Legalizing Cuteness Edition

July 16, 2008

Isn’t that adoreable? What you are watching is the always cute African Pygmy Hedgehog atelerix albiventris . While these mammals due originally hail from mid-Africa, they are found practically all over the world. They come from one of the most ancient mammal families Erinaceidae, who were around with the dinosaurs.

These adorable animals eat fruits, vegetables, and cat food. They also provide great natural pest control in your garden, while being cute and friendly. Unfortunately, these wonderful creatures were put on the list as “detrimental animals” and are illegal to possess in California and Hawaii. In all other states they are legal. Some states make a distinction between the European Hedgehog and the African Pygmy Hedgehog — making the latter legal. Some states do require ownership permits and licenses for breeding African Pygmy Hedgehogs, which seems reasonable. Once hedgehogs as pets catch on, you can only imagine the revenues the state would rake in.

They are as small as pocket dogs, but cuter and are not yippy.

They are so safe around small children that hedgehogs have been found to be an excellent classroom pet. Since they are not rodents they don’t have a smell. As long as the family practices handwashing, as they should with any pet, the hedgehog is perfectly safe as any pet to be around babies and small children.

My husband really wants to have hedgehogs and I would love to be able to get him a couple for our 13th anniversary or his birthday, but I do not want to run afoul of the law and risk confiscation.

My mission is to get African Pygmy Hedgehogs off the list of the California Fish & Game commission, and make the possession, sale, and breeding of headhogs as pets legal.

So I called the California Department of Fish & Game and the Fish & Game Commission. No one could tell me why exactly the hedgehog has been put on the list. They told me that hedgehogs were put on the list 30 to 50 years ago by the California legislature, before the Fish & Game Commission had the authority over the list. Steve Martarano at the Fish & Game Information office told me that they know there is an underground of people who own ferrets, and it is a low priority for the department. He says he has never been asked about hedgehogs before. He found one rational by one biologist, “Hedgehogs are insectivores and when exported from their native ranges have established populations in the wild outside those ranges. Unfortunately, pet owners sometimes become tired or frustrated with pets and release them into the wild which is detrimental to California’s native animals, because they compete for food, habitat, and may introduce new diseases.” Thanks to Steve for the clarification and his research.

Other than that, people I talked with could only speculate generally as to why the hedgehog was put on the list. They guessed that they worry the non-native species would get loose, become feral and become a threat to a native species. I must stress that no one at the California Fish & Game could find any information specific to the hedgehog as to why it was on the list. This biologist statement still isn’t very specific and is not accurate.

The problem of owners getting tired or frustrated with pets is universal no matter what species we are talking about. Making African Pygmy Hedgehogs legal would allow for educational programs, rescue homes, and adoption programs to exist to deal with such cases. Making hedgehogs go underground will actually lead to abandoned illicit hedgehogs that would most likely be set free in the wild. Legalization is the only way we can keep hedgehogs safe and out of the wild. African Pygmy Hedgehogs do not come from Africa anymore since they have been bred for a long time in the United States. The first legal Californian African Pygmy Hedgehogs will most likely be brought in initially from our neighbors Oregon and Washington State. These hedgehogs have been and be bred domestically for the domestic pet market.

I can state that the African Pygmy Hedgehog is breed to be a domestic house pet and owners of these pets are careful to make sure that they limit the time outdoors if at all due to wanting to maintain the hedgehog’s temperature needs so they do not go into hibernation. Plus the animal is so darn cute, you would not want to be apart from one’s hedgehog. Another fact is that a hedgehog baby can run you about 300 bucks, so there is an incentive to not let your pet to escape from the wild. One of the reasons we do not want to sneak hedgehogs over the border from Oregon or Washington is we couldn’t tolerate having our hedgehog confiscated as illegal contraband. If our neighbors to the North on the West Coast Region have no problem with the legalization of African Pygmy Hedgehog, California should have no problem.

It seems California is perfectly willing to introduce pesticides that not only harm the target insect but pose risks to beneficial bugs, animals, and humans all the time. Hedgehogs are the ultimate in green pest control for your garden as they are insectivores. They don’t have to be, as they are also happy with cat food.

I was really surprised that Fish & Game had no information on what exactly is the problem with the hedgehog. How can they justify keeping them on the list?

I would like people to join me in writing a letter to the California Fish & Game Commission to get them to make owning, selling, and breeding African Pygmy Hedgehogs legal in California. Please let them know that you would like to legalize the sale, possession, and breeding of domesticated African Pygmy Hedgehogs as pets in California, since they are unable to provide any reasons for why they got on the list since it was put on the list 30 or 50 years ago before the commission had control of the list. Even Fish and Game itself sees enforcement of this regulation as low priority, even though they are aware of underground hedgehog population.They cannot even tell us if there are any industries or interests who are threatened by the existence of the African Pygmy Hedgehog. They are supposedly the experts with biologists on staff to tell us which species need to be protected or excluded.

It is time for the health and safety of these animals that this population is allowed to be legal and regulated so California can insure that these animals are being treated humanely, bred responsibly, and allow veterinarians to serve this population.

California Fish & Game Commission
Mr. John Carlson, Jr.
Executive Director
1416 9th Street, Suite 1320
Sacramento, CA 95814