:00:07. > :00:11.Hi, I'm Ricky with your evening update. First, we're talking
:00:12. > :00:14.hedgehogs. Once a big part of British wildlife in years past, now
:00:15. > :00:18.they're listed as an endangered species. But a new study's found
:00:19. > :00:23.that in some areas, they're on the rise because of the controversial
:00:24. > :00:30.badger cull trial. Here's Leah. They're cute, small and seriously
:00:31. > :00:33.spiky. But across the UK, the number of hedgehogs has been going down for
:00:34. > :00:39.years. One reason for this is thought to be that the areas where
:00:40. > :00:44.they live have been built on or used for farming crops. But another
:00:45. > :00:48.threat is the badger. They both compete for the same food, a mix of
:00:49. > :00:54.slugs and worms, meaning the bigger animal wins. And in the wild badgers
:00:55. > :00:56.will often eat hedgehogs too. Now researchers from Exeter and
:00:57. > :00:59.Southampton University have found, in the areas where badger culls are
:01:00. > :01:09.taking place, numbers of hedgehogs have more than doubled. We also saw
:01:10. > :01:14.from the same survey, that when he removed badgers, you ended up with
:01:15. > :01:19.more foxes around, and increased numbers of predators like foxes
:01:20. > :01:23.could have negative effects on other wildlife. When you manage wildlife
:01:24. > :01:28.in an intensive way, over very large areas of ground, you can end up with
:01:29. > :01:32.a host of unexpected outcomes for other species. We need to think very
:01:33. > :01:35.carefully before we undertake large-scale wildlife management
:01:36. > :01:38.project. The research was funded by the Government Department for
:01:39. > :01:41.Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who are behind the badger cull. And
:01:42. > :01:45.not everyone agrees with it. So while numbers are on the up where
:01:46. > :01:48.the cull is taking place - in other parts of the country hedgehogs are
:01:49. > :01:51.struggling. Conservationists are warning unless action is taken these
:01:52. > :01:57.spiky creatures may not be with us for much longer.
:01:58. > :02:00.Next to an extraordinary tale of rescue from a desert island. Five
:02:01. > :02:03.people were rescued off the east coast of Australia on Monday after
:02:04. > :02:06.they wrote a giant distress signal in the sand. The group became
:02:07. > :02:14.stranded when their boat drifted away while they swam off the coast
:02:15. > :02:21.of Queensland. To attract rescue workers they managed to write SOS in
:02:22. > :02:27.large letters in a small sand bar. We were tasked to go out to these
:02:28. > :02:31.islands. Eventually I thought I saw some movement on a bunch of rocks.
:02:32. > :02:37.As we got closer, sure enough, the people there. Then we saw the SOS in
:02:38. > :02:43.the sand, which confirmed the people were in trouble. It was a bit of a
:02:44. > :02:47.surprise. They had been there for a long time. They were very thirsty.
:02:48. > :02:52.They were pretty happy that somebody came along to pick them up, they
:02:53. > :02:59.would have been uncomfortable by nightfall. They had not secured the
:03:00. > :03:00.boat very well. How lucky were they? Newsround is back