'He was screaming in pain': Hedgehog dies after being painted blue 'to look like Sonic'

A hedgehog died ‘screaming in pain’ after being painted blue, despite the efforts of a rescue centre to save the animal.

The adult male was found by a farmer in one of his fields just behind Wakefield Police Station after it appeared he had been painted to look like the cartoon character Sonic.

The paint was sprayed so close to a large area of the animal's back that the chemicals burned off "several" layers of skin and also caused its spines to "melt away".

The animal was rushed to nearby Castleford Hedgehog Rescue, arriving at around 4pm on Tuesda, October 27, but died the next morning of his injuries.

Beth Campsill, 29, who runs the charity and tried to save the hedgehog, said it was the worst case of spray paint-based cruelty she has seen in her 16 years running the rescue.

The animal lover said: "When the hedgehog was brought to us, he was screaming in pain.

"I gave the poor thing the maximum pain relief I could, but he didn't stop; he effectively screamed himself to death.

"I don't know how anyone could be so cruel to an animal. It is disgusting.

"I haven't seen anything as bad or as sad as this in a long time."

According to Beth, the hedgehog died due to an infection caused by the chemical burns, as well as potentially being poisoned by the toxins in the paint.

Beth posted about the tiny nocturnal creature on her Facebook page, with several people commenting that it could be an antiseptic spray to treat livestock.

But Beth believes it was a form of spray paint due to its "thick texture" and how it burned the skin, something she says an antiseptic spray wouldn't do.

She also had to scrape off the remaining spines that hadn't already fallen out.

The spiny vertebrate was also suffering ‘flystrike’ - when flies lay eggs on an animal's wounds and soft tissue, and the hatched maggots feed on and burrow into the animal's flesh, according to the RSPCA.

Flystrike is also potentially fatal and Beth said the animal most likely would have endured a "slow and ultimately and extremely painful death" in the wild.

She said: "I'm glad he was brought in as it meant at least we could ease his suffering and make him feel comfortable."

Hedgehogs are in decline in Britain and are now listed as "vulnerable" on Britain's red list of mammals.

According to the latest State of Britain's hedgehogs report, numbers of hedgehogs have fallen by up to 30% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas since the turn of the century.

Beth says she will report the incident to the police, but is unsure if the person responsible will be "held responsible" due to the location where it was found.

It follows a similar incident in Leeds earlier this year, where a hedgehog died after being painted blue and yellow.

Four people were arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after the discovery of the adult female spiny mammal in a garden in Yeadon.