A HEDGEHOG sanctuary is full this Christmas after it was inundated with homeless and injured creatures.

Hedgehog Rescue Topcliffe, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, has an official capacity of 16 animals, but this year it is caring for 19 hedgehogs.

Their latest addition is two-month-old Nightingale, who was brought in to the centre on Friday after it was rescued from a school yard.

It appears the female had been attacked by someone because it had injuries consistent with a kick, but it is now recovering well after being fed on a diet of scrambled eggs and kitten food over the weekend.

Pauline Hindmarch, who runs Hedgehog Rescue Topcliffe, said the centre has never had so many animals in at one time.

She said: "We usually have half as many. We think we have got so many because of the weather conditions this year.

"We had such a hot summer that a lot of hedgehogs and their youngsters probably died because they could not get water to drink, and when it started raining in the autumn, and the slugs and insects started to appear, there was more food and the young could survive.

"What we are seeing now is the results of that."