Hedgehog badly injured after grass set on fire in Middlesbrough

Firefighters named the injured animal Mr Jingles

A hedgehog was badly hurt when a grass fire was started deliberately in a Middlesbrough park.

Firefighters found the injured animal after putting out the fire in Mannion Park on Tuesday afternoon.

The hedgehog, named Mr Jingles by the fire crew, was placed in an empty smoke alarm box with a dish of water, an old towel, and some grass.

It is now being cared for by The Cleveland Hedgehog Preservation Society and will be seen by a vet.

Cleveland Fire Brigade warned about the consequences of deliberate fires.

"These types of fires are not only a blight on our community, they also endanger local wildlife and their habitat," it said.

A report from the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Prevention Society (BHPS) published earlier this week found there had been a "steep decline" in the population of hedgehogs in rural Britain.

It found numbers had dropped by between 30% and 75% since 2000.