Hospital overcrowding of an unusual kind is happening at the home of a Thirsk animal lover.
Pauline Hindmarch, who runs a hedgehog sanctuary at her Topcliffe home, is having to deal with an unprecedented influx of prickly patients.
She usually expects to have only a few residents to care for during the festive period, but due to the recent spell of bad weather, hedgehogs in the area appear to be suffering from a number of ailments, including pneumonia, which has pushed the numbers up to a substantial 13.
She has seven recovering in her garage, two in hibernation and four in her garden shed.
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