Meet Heather
Heather Johnson, old enough to know better, young enough not to implement it!!
I’ve always had a love for children and animals, and from the age of 7 I wanted to be a teacher. I still am a teacher, working in a variety of roles, and working full time. All of my pets have always been rescued animals, and I have always had a passion for helping animals, to the point where my husband wouldn’t let me visit Wood Green anymore!!
About ten years ago I read an article about the plight of African Pygmy hedgehogs. They are not, and have never been, wild animals. They are a cross-breed hedgehog bred purely as a pet, in the same way as ‘toy’ breed dogs, cockerpoos etc. They are very delicate, very cute, and the craze in having one as a pet was at its height. Unfortunately, there was no place owners could take them when their circumstances changed, so a lot of them were being put outside to fend for themselves. Certain death for an animal that is classed as exotic and does not hibernate like ours do.
So, I needed to help, and joined the organisation that was doing so, The National Exotic Rescue Centre. They will teach you how to become an adopter or a foster carer of one of these beautiful creatures, and we look after them, one at a time.
Then you become known as The Hedgehog Lady, and people say, ‘I have a wild one in my garden with a gammy leg, will you look at it??” At the point, the answer was a resounding “No!” I didn’t know enough about wild ones! But people kept asking, and the more research I did, the more I found out about the plight of our native hedgehogs.
So, I took myself off and did a diploma in Wildlife care and Rehabilitation and volunteered as much as I possibly could. It was not easy, with a family at home, working full time, and having health issues to contend with. If you want to register and set up your own rescue properly, The National Hedgehog Preservation Society has a dedicated first aid course run by Vale animal hospital in Tewkesbury, so I toddled off and did that too.
Then you open a rescue in Chatteris and find a mentor or two, I was lucky and found some good supportive people already doing similar things so I was able to ask for help, and start building up experience. About 18 months ago, I decided to turn the rescue into an official charity in Chatteris as we were getting quite busy all of the time. Well, if I thought we were busy then, it is nothing compared to how busy we are now!! Teaching is a full-time job, The Hostel is a full-time job, and many people say that you shouldn’t work with children or animals, but there is nothing else I rather do, nowhere else I’d rather be, although there can be quite a lot of unpleasant ‘deposits’ in both careers!!
2 truths and a lie…… I lived in Las Vegas. I have webbed toes. I parachuted over Dundee!
Our Trustees
Heather Johnson
Heather Johnson
Heather Johnson
Heather is the Owner, Director and Managing Trustee. She is responsible for intakes, diagnosing, everyday care and handling, medication, ordering, record keeping, policies,
charitable status and commission talks, and fundraising.
Lucy Hubbard
Heather Johnson
Heather Johnson
Lucy is the Deputy Managing Trustee. She is responsible for intakes, everyday care, handling medication, volunteer rotas, fundraising, events and policies. Lucy works directly with Heather at our Chatteris hostel.
Amanda Rowlatt
Heather Johnson
Amanda Rowlatt
Mandie is our Stowbridge Annexe Trustee. She is responsible for all of the Stowbridge Annexe intakes, fostering, diagnosing, fundraising everyday care and handling, talks and policies.
Helen Free
Heather Johnson
Amanda Rowlatt
Helen is the marketing Trustee. She is responsible for developing our business and online presence, finding ways to give us a physical presence in the community, providing a physical drop off point for fundraising and donations in town, fundraising and policies.