Hedgehogs.

During the 1950s their were estimated to have been about 30 million hedgehogs in the UK but now their are thought to be less than a million. One of the causes of their decline is slug pellets and I have spoken to someone who said that hedgehogs as well as many birds such as song thushes will only eat a slug that is alive and will not touch a dead one. She is right up to a point but what if the slug has eaten a pellet and is dieing but still moving about, will the hedgehog know it has been poisoned and leave it alone, of coarse it wont because hedgehogs are not the cleverest of creatures and will eat it and die a horrible death. Why can't gardeners and allotment holders buy pellets that wont kill wildlife other than slugs and remember frogs and toads eat slugs as well and their numbers are down. I will now tell you what I do, I keep a number of plastic containers and fill them with beer, the slugs and snails cannot resist it and go in the beer and drown so only the slugs die and no wildlife is affected. You can get basic beer from Sainsbury's which cost 99 pence for 4 cans so it is cheaper than slug pellets but of course requires a little more time to fill the containers which don't have to be large and after a day or two the slugs and snails can be collected up and thrown on the heap which we all have and be burnt in Winter with everything else such as weeds and grass twitch. It is high time the government came to it's senses and banned these evil slug pellets, after all when was the last time you saw a hedgehog, I havent even seen one dead on the road for years and in the days when I saw dead ones it was at least an indication that they were quite common but they are not common now I am afraid. Allotments should be havens for wildlife such as hedgehogs, frogs, toads, song thushes ect but sadly they are not because too many people are just selfish and uncaring.