Hedgehog accidentally donated to Witham charity shop

The female hedgehog has been named Farleigh after she was accidentally donated to Farleigh Hospice charity shop

Charity shop workers said they were "very surprised" to find a hedgehog in a donation bag.

The animal was at the bottom of a bag that had been donated to the Farleigh Hospice shop in Witham, Essex.

Debbie de Boltz, from the hospice, said the hedgehog had crawled into the bag which had been left outside overnight.

The animal was checked over by Anne Taylor at Hedgehog Haven, who thought the "healthy, large, adult female" may have recently given birth.

"I was concerned she could have hoglets somewhere so we needed to get her back to where she came from as quickly as possible," Mrs Taylor said.

Farleigh was found in a pink recycling bag that had been filled with donations for the charity

A post on Facebook called for whoever "accidentally donated the hedgehog" to make contact, and after it was shared more 39,000 times, a man messaged to say he had taken the bag to the shop.

"The next day a couple came to collect her and take her back to where she started her journey," Mrs Taylor said.

Ms de Boltz said she hoped the hedgehog, who was named Farleigh, would be reunited with her hoglets and appealed for people to not leave donations outside overnight.

"The very kind gentleman had sorted out some bits and pieces and left the bag outside overnight in his carport," she said.

"Some time during the night, the mumma hedgehog decided to crawl in so when the volunteers when through the bag, they were very surprised to find a very large hedgehog.

"We and Hedgehog Haven are very keen to let people know that if you do leave stuff out overnight, just remember wildlife can get at it."