After bringing the little creature home, she took all the necessary steps, placing it in a warm, safe spot and offering some food. However, despite her efforts, the animal remained motionless, ignoring the food entirely. Concerned, she rushed it to a vet.
To her surprise, the vet quickly pointed out that what she had rescued wasn't a hedgehog at all, but merely the fuzzy pom-pom typically adorning winter hats.
From Fox Weather:
The good Samaritan, who was never formally identified, promptly called the Lower Moss Wood Educational Nature Reserve & Wildlife Hospital in Knutsford, England, after finding a small creature resembling a baby hedgehog on the sidewalk.
"I advised her to keep it warm and quiet overnight in a box and bring it to us in the morning," hospital manager Janet Kotze told FOX Weather.
Kotze said the kind-hearted woman lined the box with newspaper and even placed a small dish of wet cat food beside it to entice what she thought was a sick animal. The next morning, she rushed the shoebox to Kotze, who took it to her triage room.
Initially, Kotze said she expressed concern about hoggets in the wild at this time of year.
"When I opened the box, I immediately realized it was not, in fact, a hedgehog," Kotze recalled of the lifeless critter.
Was it possible that the fluffy creature was of a different species?
"I tapped the side of the box, and it was clearly not any kind of animal, but a bobble from a bobble hat," Kotze said with a light-hearted laugh as she lifted the object, which lacked any discernible weight.
Kotze said she returned the box to the reception desk and told the woman who brought it in what she had discovered.
"She said, ‘You’re joking!’" Kotze laughed. "I thought it was adorable. I told her she did exactly the right thing by bringing it in, keeping it warm and providing appropriate food, in spite of the fact that it was not, in fact, a hedgehog."
