The man behind Wormit Hedgehog Centre plans to retire from animal rescue – after more than 26 years in the trade.
Sandy Boyd, who has devoted the last two decades to caring for ill and injured hedgehogs, announced on Monday that he will be closing his centre due to growing health concerns.
He has been a stalwart of Tayside and Fife’s wildlife community for years and said he will be leaving with “a heavy heart.”
Ongoing health concerns
The 82-year-old has been struggling with ill health for some time and at the end of 2020 he suffered a heart attack which forced him to spend three weeks in hospital.
He said: “It’s been pretty rough this year, I had a heart attack in December and had to have triple bypass surgery and a pacemaker fitted.
“I only got out in January.”
The wildlife enthusiast is also experiencing difficulties with his mobility, adding: “My hip has been troubling me too.
“I’ve been hurting when I’m standing up and walking around, it’s quite sore. I fell in the bath recently, which didn’t help.
“I’ve spoken to my doctor and gotten some X-rays taken so hopefully I’ll know what the issue is soon.”
‘I feel terrible’
After spending so long caring for the animals, Sandy admits that he will have difficulty giving up.
“I feel terrible,” he said.
“I had a woman from St Andrews call up last night and I had to say that I’m not really doing that sort of thing any more.
“Still, she kept talking about this hedgehog and how it needed looking after so I told her to bring it through and I had a look at it, took some ticks off.
“It’s just so hard saying no.
“I’ll miss it, there’s no way around it.”
Following the passing of his wife three years ago, Sandy threw himself into his animal rescue.
And he still remembers exactly when he began helping hedgehogs 26 years, eight months and 16 days ago.
He said: “It all started when I found a little one on the nature trail and it has just been going since then.
“My wife died three years ago and it’s been something to keep me going ever since.
“Even when I was in the hospital at Ninewells I got up at 3am because that’s my usual routine to check on the hedgehogs.
“I remember that the nurse was shouting at me that I was in the ICU and had to get back in my bed.”
The future
Unfortunately, the future is still unclear for both Sandy and his prickly friends.
There are no hedgehogs in the sanctuary at the moment but the animal lover is hoping to find another enthusiast to take over from him to help them in future.
However so far nobody has stepped up.
He said: “Some will take a few in, but once they get about four or five trotting about they start dying and it’s clear that something’s not right.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do either, maybe I’ll be able to start giving the house a clean.
“With my hip giving me this trouble I think it’ll just be good to get a seat.”
