Yep, sadly it's true; Hedgehogs could be wiped out in just ten years.

The nocturnal creatures are being driven to the brink of extinction by a combination of climate change and garden goal nets.

Experts and conservationists are meeting this week to consider and debate plans to save the wild animal at a Help for Hedgehogs conference.

And while changing weather patterns are believed to be disrupting the creature’s hibernation habits, chain link fences and garden netting is also killing large numbers.

Hedgehogs will be particularly vulnerable in the coming months as babies born late struggle to gain enough weight to survive through the winter(sob).

Hedgehog expert Dr Nigel Reeve said: “The hedgehog is one of our most popular wild animals but it is now on real trouble and declining fast.”

Hedgehog numbers are believed to have fallen to around one million since the 1950s, when an estimated 30 million inhabited countrysides and gardens, according to figures from the Hedgehog Preservation Society.

In the past decade their numbers have fallen by ten percent, a rate of decline which will see them wiped out in a decade.