:00:05. > :00:08.Hello, and welcome to Inside Out. Here's what's coming up tonight.
:00:08. > :00:11.Hi, I'm Steve Long, co-founder of The Universal Group. We gatecrash
:00:11. > :00:15.this man's seminar, which claims to offer financial peace of mind to
:00:15. > :00:19.the elderly. Why is it you're selling a product
:00:19. > :00:22.when you are possibly, could be rendering it useless? You've put me
:00:22. > :00:26.on the spot here... I have put you on the spot, because we've been
:00:26. > :00:29.trying to get in touch with you. Your office told us you were out of
:00:29. > :00:31.the country, but that's not the case, you're here, giving another
:00:31. > :00:34.seminar today. Also tonight, repo man. With the
:00:34. > :00:39.recession, we've had more cases coming our way. How bailiffs are
:00:39. > :00:42.kept busy in the recession clearing up bad debt. We've been sent here
:00:42. > :00:45.today to enforce a High Court writ which orders us to remove goods
:00:45. > :00:51.from the premises. And, is it right to invite this Mrs Tiggywinkle into
:00:51. > :00:56.your home? Inhumane, him in a cage is inhumane. He wants to walk two
:00:56. > :01:06.miles a night and he cannot do it in the kitchen. Oh! What? It bit
:01:06. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:24.I'm Jon Cuthill, and this is Inside First tonight, a story you told us
:01:24. > :01:28.about. Care for a loved one in later life can cost tens of
:01:28. > :01:31.thousands of pounds, and so if an expert tells you he has a way of
:01:31. > :01:34.getting someone else to foot the bill, well, you're going to be
:01:34. > :01:40.interested. You told us of one company operating here in the South
:01:40. > :01:44.promising just that. Here's David Whiteley.
:01:44. > :01:46.One in four of us will need long- term care, and if you have more
:01:46. > :01:51.than �23,000 in savings and property then you will be expected
:01:51. > :01:56.to pay for your care. That's a worry for some people who'd rather
:01:56. > :01:59.keep their assets in the family. I'm Steve Long, co-founder of The
:01:59. > :02:05.Universal Group, and I'm here to show you how you can avoid care
:02:05. > :02:10.fees. This man claims he knows how you can avoid care fees. He says
:02:10. > :02:17.he's better than a solicitor. local solicitor won't be able to do
:02:17. > :02:21.this, solicitors come to us to do Lovely, thank you, darling. Five
:02:21. > :02:25.years ago, Bernard and Christine Dillon wanted new wills. They went
:02:25. > :02:32.to Steve Long. Earlier this year, Mr Long phoned Bernard unexpectedly.
:02:32. > :02:35.His business had a new product to avoid care fees. When he came, he
:02:35. > :02:38.said that you could get out of paying care home fees by setting
:02:38. > :02:48.this trust up that would stop the council from getting their hands on
:02:48. > :02:55.
:02:55. > :02:59.your money. And it would be �3000, which is a lot of money. So our
:02:59. > :03:05.first reaction was, well, we'd have to think about that. But, in the
:03:05. > :03:08.end, he managed to talk us into agreeing with him. But I've since
:03:08. > :03:17.found that, if a trust was set up for that sole purpose, that that
:03:17. > :03:20.would disqualify itself. Beryl Shea also had a visit from
:03:20. > :03:30.Steve Long. He said the money would all be ring-fenced, that you
:03:30. > :03:34.
:03:34. > :03:38.couldn't... The Government couldn't get hold of it for care home fees.
:03:38. > :03:48.But he suddenly said, "Well, there is a fee that you have to pay, and
:03:48. > :03:48.
:03:48. > :03:51.if possible we'd like to have it tonight". And it was 3000... 3,500?
:03:51. > :03:58.We've asked several solicitors, and they told us similar trusts would
:03:58. > :04:02.cost from 700 to �1200. Care home fees can run to thousands of pounds
:04:02. > :04:06.a year, so it's only natural for us to worry about these costs as we
:04:06. > :04:14.approach old age. Steve Long runs seminars to explain his solutions
:04:14. > :04:18.to these concerns. We went to some of his seminars and
:04:18. > :04:25.listened to his claims about himself and his products. This one
:04:25. > :04:29.was in Bristol. We do seminars like this for
:04:29. > :04:31.solicitors, a top barrister works along with us. And you'll have a
:04:31. > :04:35.whole room of solicitors all dealing with elderly clients, they
:04:35. > :04:38.specialise in elderly client care. Not one of them has ever done that
:04:38. > :04:41.or knows how to do it. So it's a specialist niche, there are
:04:41. > :04:45.probably five of us in the country who deal with it. But that's not
:04:45. > :04:52.true. Caroline Bielanska is a solicitor specialising in wills and
:04:52. > :05:02.administration of estates. There are lots of professional lawyers
:05:02. > :05:02.
:05:02. > :05:05.who undertake wills and trusts. And the membership of Solicitors for
:05:05. > :05:08.the Elderly and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners will
:05:08. > :05:13.have many thousands of members together who would be able to set
:05:13. > :05:20.up these sorts of trusts. But also they have to have a very good
:05:20. > :05:23.working understanding of social care assessments and funding.
:05:23. > :05:26.she wants to make sure that Peter's inheritance is safe... The man
:05:27. > :05:29.behind The Universal Group is Stephen Long. In his seminars, he
:05:30. > :05:33.makes many claims that make him and his company sound very well-
:05:33. > :05:37.connected and important. I work with the top barrister in the
:05:37. > :05:40.country, we do seminars like this for solicitors. But we've spoken to
:05:40. > :05:44.the Bar Council, which represent barristers, and they told us that
:05:44. > :05:47.no-one would claim to be the country's top barrister. So he
:05:47. > :05:55.doesn't seem to be quite as well- connected as he claims, but he
:05:55. > :05:59.sounds well-qualified. Well, I'm a qualified accountant and a lawyer.
:05:59. > :06:05.He isn't. We've checked with the UK accountancy organisations and the
:06:05. > :06:09.solicitors' regulation authority. He is a member of STEP, the Society
:06:09. > :06:14.of Trust and Estate Practitioners. So how accurate are his claims
:06:14. > :06:17.about his products? Our undercover producer asked Steve Long if an
:06:17. > :06:22.elderly person who isn't well could use one of the trusts to avoid care
:06:22. > :06:27.fees. Providing he hasn't already been assessed and isn't already
:06:27. > :06:32.receiving care, then it's straightforward. The local
:06:32. > :06:35.authority will look at the reasons that the trust was actually created.
:06:36. > :06:38.And if they feel that it was done for the purpose of putting the
:06:39. > :06:42.asset beyond their reach, then, of course, they could take it into
:06:42. > :06:49.account in an assessment and treat the person as if they still owned
:06:49. > :06:54.the asset. So the irony is that if the motive is to avoid paying care
:06:54. > :06:59.home fees, then the trust may end up doing precisely the opposite.
:06:59. > :07:04.And that is exactly how Steve Long markets his product. I'm here to
:07:04. > :07:06.show you how you can avoid care fees. In the end, it's the local
:07:06. > :07:11.authority who decides, so we asked the local government association,
:07:11. > :07:14.which represents local authorities, just what the rules are. They told
:07:14. > :07:17.us if you put your assets into a trust deliberately designed to
:07:17. > :07:22.avoid care fees, then the local authority can treat you as though
:07:22. > :07:28.you still own the assets. That seems clear, so we wrote to Mr Long
:07:28. > :07:32.to explain why he gives misleading statements in his seminars. His
:07:32. > :07:35.office told us he was out of the country until the end of this week.
:07:35. > :07:38.Then his office claimed some of his mistakes were due to an ear
:07:38. > :07:41.infection. I hope his hearing is better now, because he's still in
:07:41. > :07:45.the country and he's giving a seminar at this hotel here in
:07:45. > :07:50.Gloucester. I do hope his hearing is better, because I've got a few
:07:50. > :07:52.questions for him. His office said that Universal
:07:52. > :08:00.asset protection is totally committed to excellent customer
:08:00. > :08:05.care, and that their fees are not excessive. But Mr Long has not
:08:05. > :08:09.given specific answers to most of our questions.
:08:09. > :08:12.I've got to ask you a question, Mr Long. Why is it you're selling a
:08:12. > :08:17.product called How To Avoid Care Fees when, by marketing it as that,
:08:17. > :08:21.you are, in fact, possibly, could be rendering it useless? Well,
:08:21. > :08:25.that's not the advice that we've received. And it's nice of you to
:08:25. > :08:28.come in unannounced into a seminar here. But we have been in touch
:08:28. > :08:31.with you, Mr Long. We've asked you quite a few questions about the
:08:31. > :08:34.validity of what you are doing with these trusts. So by advertising
:08:34. > :08:38.yourselves as How To Avoid Care Fees, you're shooting yourself in
:08:38. > :08:41.the foot a bit, aren't you? It's not the advice we've received.
:08:41. > :08:46.have you received the advice from? This is from the Government. Who's
:08:46. > :08:49.wrong, you or the Government? I think when we look at the cases
:08:49. > :08:53.we have dealt with, and you've put me on the spot here... I have put
:08:53. > :08:56.you on the spot, because we've been trying to get in touch with you.
:08:56. > :08:59.Your office told us you were out of the country. That wasn't the case,
:08:59. > :09:02.you're here giving another seminar today. I'm not prepared to discuss
:09:02. > :09:06.on television the intellectual property that we have. All I can
:09:06. > :09:08.say is that the trust that we use has a 100% track record, we have
:09:08. > :09:11.documentary evidence of local authorities accepting that the
:09:11. > :09:14.trust works. You market yourself as one of only five companies that
:09:14. > :09:20.specialises in this kind of elderly care trusts, and yet that's not
:09:20. > :09:25.true either, is it? We say we are one of five specialist providers
:09:25. > :09:27.that we know of that provide these for other people. But any firm of
:09:27. > :09:30.solicitors who knows and understands the rules around this
:09:30. > :09:34.would be able to do that. Strange, but he said the opposite
:09:34. > :09:38.when he didn't know he was being recorded. Your local solicitor
:09:38. > :09:42.won't be able to do this. It's a specialist niche, there are
:09:43. > :09:45.probably five of us in the country that deal with it. So which Mr Long
:09:45. > :09:48.should we believe, and what can we learn from this?
:09:48. > :09:51.If you are thinking of putting your property into a trust deliberately
:09:51. > :09:58.to avoid care fees, remember they're not suitable for everyone
:09:59. > :10:04.and they may not work. My first reaction was to say no. But he
:10:04. > :10:07.continued and, as I say, eventually wore us down. If you've met him,
:10:07. > :10:17.you'll know that he's a very pleasant man, and obviously a very
:10:17. > :10:17.
:10:17. > :10:27.And that just proves how important your e-mails are, so if you've got
:10:27. > :10:32.Next, the recession may be officially over, but it's still
:10:32. > :10:38.tough going out there. When deals turn bad, bankruptcy can be just
:10:38. > :10:42.around the corner. But help is at hand... Through the bailiffs.
:10:42. > :10:45.Lawrence Grix is a High Court enforcement officer. He and
:10:45. > :10:49.colleague Kevin McNally are called in when debtors fail to pay up,
:10:49. > :10:52.even though a court has ruled they must. I would say everybody's
:10:52. > :10:57.trying to make a living, everybody's entitled to be paid for
:10:57. > :11:02.what they've done. Us collecting debts does stop some businesses
:11:02. > :11:06.going under, it does stop some people losing their homes. Today,
:11:06. > :11:13.they're about to visit the home of a builder who owes a lot of money.
:11:13. > :11:22.�4000, to be exact, which he owes builders' merchant for unpaid bills.
:11:22. > :11:26.There he is. Mr Burns? It can go two ways. We could now be
:11:26. > :11:29.annoying him so much by keep banging on the door that he could
:11:29. > :11:32.potentially come to the door with some kind of weapon, so we've got
:11:32. > :11:35.to be ready for him to be aggressive. Or he could just stay
:11:35. > :11:38.shut in there. High Court enforcement officers like Lawrence
:11:38. > :11:41.and Kevin have a lot of clout. They can climb fences, access properties
:11:41. > :11:47.through unlocked doors or windows, and even break into offices and
:11:47. > :11:53.factories. And they can seize goods. In lieu of his debts, they are
:11:53. > :11:57.taking Mr Burns' car. In Plymouth, hotelier Joseph Louie
:11:58. > :12:01.is hoping they'll help him get the money he's owed. Joseph lent a
:12:01. > :12:06.former business partner a large sum of cash, but not all of it was paid
:12:06. > :12:10.back. They went to court and the judgement ruled in Mr Louie's
:12:10. > :12:16.favour. But still the money hasn't been returned, and it's very much
:12:16. > :12:22.crunch time at the hotel. If he doesn't pay the money he borrowed,
:12:22. > :12:28.the business I don't think will be here for long. The staff will lose
:12:28. > :12:31.their jobs, and the city would lose something we're proud of. The debt
:12:31. > :12:34.has left the business and Joseph Louie with a serious cash-flow
:12:34. > :12:38.crisis. It should've been an invoice paid on Monday, and I
:12:38. > :12:47.phoned this morning, they say it's been paid, but it's not. I'm in
:12:47. > :12:51.It gets to the point that you really need to chase people for
:12:51. > :12:57.�6,000. This is a few million pounds business here, it shouldn't
:12:57. > :13:03.be the case. For receiver Ian Walker, businesses
:13:04. > :13:06.with bad debts are a familiar story. If they don't get paid, they can't
:13:06. > :13:10.pay their wages and eventually they will fail, unless they've got
:13:10. > :13:15.security to enable a bank to lend them more money to see them through
:13:15. > :13:17.those cash flow difficulties. But increasingly nowadays we're seeing
:13:17. > :13:22.that businesses have been struggling for so long they've
:13:22. > :13:31.completely lost all personal wealth. There is nowhere else they can give
:13:31. > :13:34.security to the banks from. With the recession, we've had more
:13:34. > :13:41.cases coming our way. But potentially they're not as easy to
:13:41. > :13:43.collect on. We've had the last of the money people had, I think, over
:13:43. > :13:49.the last year or so, and it's getting progressively harder and
:13:49. > :13:52.harder. Before Lawrence and Kevin sort out
:13:52. > :13:57.hotelier Joseph Louie's missing money, they're back on the road in
:13:57. > :14:01.search of more missing debts. are off to a garage. They're off to
:14:01. > :14:04.a car dealer who has not refunded an unhappy customer's money. Nine
:14:04. > :14:08.months ago, Martin Chapel bought a pickup truck to start a gardening
:14:08. > :14:12.business. He returned it to the garage because it was faulty, and
:14:12. > :14:17.that's where it's been ever since. And Mr Chapel has yet to receive
:14:17. > :14:25.his refund. I paid �6,000 which, to a lot of people, may not be much,
:14:25. > :14:30.but it is a lot to me and there's a big principle at stake. It is a
:14:30. > :14:39.principle that Lawrence and Kevin want to uphold with the garage boss.
:14:39. > :14:48.I'll show some ID. I'm a High Court enforcement officer. Right, OK.
:14:48. > :14:58.That's the writ as it stands at the moment. 7,906.08 we're looking for.
:14:58. > :15:00.
:15:00. > :15:07.Or else we remove assets. Of which I can see you've got plenty!
:15:07. > :15:11.you'd be so kind as to leave our premises, gentlemen.
:15:11. > :15:17.After 15 minutes and a quick trip to the bank, it's all sorted.
:15:17. > :15:21.Martin Chapel will get his refund. Paid in full. It was just a case of
:15:21. > :15:24.getting the funds. They knew they had the debt, weren't particularly
:15:24. > :15:32.happy, but when you've got this much stock on your forecourt, what
:15:32. > :15:35.choice have you got? Another successful job. Later, the garage
:15:35. > :15:38.told us that senior management had not been made aware of the
:15:38. > :15:44.situation and that, if they had, it would have been dealt with long
:15:44. > :15:49.before the bailiffs were called in. It's now time to help Joseph Louie
:15:49. > :15:53.recover his �160,000. Lawrence and Kevin head to the home of Joseph's
:15:54. > :15:58.ex-business partner, Paul Chapman. He lives in a luxury property. The
:15:58. > :16:01.bailiffs hope Mr Chapman, a former Plymouth Argyle footballer, is in.
:16:01. > :16:05.Hello there, looking for a Paul Chapman. I'm sorry, he's not here.
:16:05. > :16:10.Would you be Mrs Chapman, by any chance? No. I'm the cleaner here.
:16:10. > :16:14.Are you able to get Mr Chapman on the phone at all?
:16:14. > :16:23.But the lady at the door is not going to let them in. She told us
:16:23. > :16:30.she was the cleaner. She was very smart and she was on the house
:16:30. > :16:35.phone, as well. So I'm not entirely convinced by that. But I think it's
:16:35. > :16:41.fairly safe to say we're not going to gain peaceful entry. I'll have a
:16:41. > :16:44.look round the back and see what's to be seen. As Lawrence and Kevin
:16:44. > :16:52.note any items of value that could be seized, Mr Chapman's cleaner
:16:52. > :16:55.reappears. OK, I'll come and speak to you. We really need to speak to
:16:55. > :16:58.Mr Chapman to get this sorted out. We're here today to remove goods
:16:58. > :17:02.from the premises. You're here to remove...? What on earth for?
:17:02. > :17:05.Because we're enforcing a High Court writ. For? I can't give you
:17:05. > :17:09.any details, but basically we've been sent here today to enforce a
:17:09. > :17:12.High Court writ which orders us to remove goods from the premises. So
:17:12. > :17:16.we really need to speak to Mr Chapman. Well, I'm not discussing
:17:16. > :17:21.this because this is scaring me stupid. I'm only here to do a job,
:17:21. > :17:26.I'm sorry. Right. We're not here to scare you. Unfortunately, we're not
:17:26. > :17:31.going because we have a writ to be here. I'm not giving... What we're
:17:31. > :17:34.asking you to do... I don't know why I'm even speaking to you.
:17:34. > :17:39.we're asking you to do... Would you please go away and come back
:17:39. > :17:49.another time? No. You've just told me you can contact Mr Chapman.
:17:49. > :17:54.
:17:54. > :17:57.I didn't. Yes, you did. You'll have Lady's refusing to speak to us.
:17:57. > :18:01.She's asking us to leave, we've refused because we've every right
:18:01. > :18:07.to be here, and that's where it stands at the moment. So we'll see
:18:07. > :18:13.what happens. Hopefully either the police or Mr Chapman will turn up.
:18:13. > :18:19.After 20 minutes, he arrives. Chapman? Mr Grix. I'll show you
:18:19. > :18:25.some ID. What are the cameras doing? They're just following us
:18:25. > :18:27.around for the day. Lawrence makes some checks. He wants to know if
:18:27. > :18:36.there's anything he can legitimately seize to help Joseph
:18:36. > :18:39.Louie recover his cash. Mr Chapman says he's borderline bankrupt. If
:18:39. > :18:43.somebody wants to make him bankrupt, he will be bankrupt. His business
:18:43. > :18:46.is gone. Everything's gone, basically. The house is on the
:18:46. > :18:52.market, the cars both belong to the lady inside, he's just gone off to
:18:52. > :18:55.get proof of that now. On the face of it, he actually seems quite
:18:55. > :18:59.genuine. But we do take that with a pinch of salt, we don't take
:18:59. > :19:03.anything for granted. In the end, it turns out that Mr
:19:03. > :19:07.Chapman's cleaner is also his partner. But as most seizable
:19:07. > :19:11.assets seem to be hers, it's not a good day for the repo men. Across
:19:11. > :19:18.the bay, in view of their luxurious pad, Joseph will just have to wait
:19:18. > :19:23.for his money. I can see my business partner's palace, where
:19:23. > :19:29.he's living in luxury and I'm struggling. But I will see my money
:19:29. > :19:32.regardless. I will. After the bailiffs' visit, the
:19:32. > :19:35.builder whose car was clamped has been paying his debt in monthly
:19:35. > :19:39.instalments. Martin Chapel got his money back and his gardening
:19:39. > :19:41.business is blooming. But, as for Joseph, he's still waiting. His
:19:41. > :19:46.former business partner, Mr Chapman, has subsequently been declared
:19:46. > :19:53.bankrupt. And, if nothing else, Joseph has learned an unfortunate
:19:53. > :19:57.lesson. Don't be a me, don't be so stupid and trusting. But at the
:19:57. > :20:07.same time, I hope I don't have to change. It has got to be trust
:20:07. > :20:08.
:20:08. > :20:13.somehow, but not too trusting. Finally tonight, the humble
:20:13. > :20:18.hedgehog. A couple of facts for you, they are immune to adder venom, and
:20:18. > :20:23.a baby hedgehog is called a hoglet. But whilst our native species might
:20:23. > :20:27.be on its back foot, a rather more exotic version is doing well.
:20:27. > :20:32.Here's Jane Goddard. New patients arrive at the Hedgehog
:20:32. > :20:38.Hospital in Buckinghamshire. They haven't got any teeth yet. They're
:20:39. > :20:43.about 10, 11 days. The eyes open at two weeks. Les Stoker, who founded
:20:43. > :20:46.Tiggywinkles over 30 years ago, is worried. Over the last half-century,
:20:46. > :20:50.he's seen the numbers of native hedgehogs fall from 5 million to
:20:50. > :20:58.just 1 million. We take in 3,000 hedgehogs a year, but I know they
:20:58. > :21:01.are going down in numbers. In the countryside, there are no hedgehogs
:21:02. > :21:06.anymore because of farming practices. So hedgehogs are now
:21:07. > :21:10.moving into gardens and nature reserves. So that 1 million are
:21:10. > :21:13.living in gardens. Thank God they've somewhere to go. So every
:21:13. > :21:17.rescue hedgehog that Les and his team nurses back to health is a
:21:17. > :21:21.bonus for what is fast becoming a threatened species. Once they're
:21:21. > :21:26.weaned, we treat them as wild animals. They don't get handled at
:21:26. > :21:29.all, just for their medical checks. Most of the time they get on with
:21:29. > :21:33.it as a wild animal. So they're roaming around your grounds? They
:21:33. > :21:38.go into pens, yeah, then they get released. This is a little hedgehog
:21:38. > :21:43.we've had in for about three weeks. It's a very common injury that we
:21:43. > :21:46.get. They've been caught by a dog, and it's bitten a big hole and it
:21:46. > :21:48.gets very infected and all that skin breaks down. In the operating
:21:49. > :21:55.theatre, resident vet Clare Campbell is tending to a very poor
:21:55. > :21:58.animal. What we will do is give it a really, really good clean and
:21:58. > :22:02.then we pack it with honey, manuka honey, which has really good
:22:02. > :22:06.healing power. It cleans out the horrible, disgusting tissue that is
:22:06. > :22:10.growing and allows new tissue to go through it. The injured hedgehog
:22:10. > :22:13.must be sedated before any treatment can be given. While this
:22:13. > :22:18.is done, I'm given the unenviable task of helping a hoglet go to the
:22:18. > :22:24.loo. Normally the mother would lick the baby...? To stimulate them to
:22:24. > :22:27.wee. If this little critter doesn't learn, he simply won't survive.
:22:28. > :22:37.can see it dripping on the towel. Yes, I would call that a result.
:22:38. > :22:39.
:22:39. > :22:42.And the thing to remember, because some people might be thinking this
:22:42. > :22:46.is a lot of work for a little creature, but this is a species
:22:46. > :22:49.which is in decline? It is a species which is in decline, so you
:22:49. > :22:53.put the effort in. But this hedgehog has met the general public,
:22:53. > :22:59.has met people, and has come off worse the wear for it. We'll never
:22:59. > :23:01.redress all the balance, but if we can do our best.
:23:01. > :23:07.So while our native British hedgehog might be struggling,
:23:07. > :23:10.there's another kind which is definitely on the rise. This is a
:23:10. > :23:19.hedgehog show, and taking centre stage and apparently growing in
:23:19. > :23:23.popularity, a hybrid - the African pygmy hedgehog. What are they like
:23:24. > :23:28.as pets? They're fine, really nice. Not too spiky? No, they put the
:23:28. > :23:33.spikes down for you so you can stroke them. I've always loved
:23:33. > :23:37.hedgehogs, so I just bought a couple about two years ago. Do you
:23:37. > :23:39.think they are a good pet? For me, because I work through the day and
:23:39. > :23:44.they're nocturnal, so that's good for me. What's the attraction?
:23:44. > :23:50.They're just really friendly and cute and lovable. What's his name?
:23:50. > :23:56.Lester. The African pygmy hedgehog, like lots of pygmy pets, is
:23:56. > :24:01.expensive, often costing well over �150. But that doesn't stop some
:24:01. > :24:04.owners giving them up. They're wild hedgehogs, that's the whole point.
:24:04. > :24:10.Les is seeing more and more of these animals abandoned and brought
:24:10. > :24:17.to his hospital. Ow! You joking? just bit me! Are you joking?
:24:17. > :24:20.There's a wound! He's hissing. him up, turn him over. This is the
:24:20. > :24:30.must-have pet, African pygmy hedgehog, perfect pet for a little
:24:30. > :24:30.
:24:30. > :24:35.girl. Look at it, cute, Mrs Tiggywinkle. Beatrix Potter had one.
:24:35. > :24:40.Not one of these. See the state of my fingers? Your little girl of 12,
:24:40. > :24:47.he comes along, he will bite the skin and make her bleed. You don't
:24:47. > :24:53.want to give your kid a... Ohh! What?! It did, it bit me! I wasn't
:24:53. > :24:56.putting that on, it bit me! At the show, owners say their pets
:24:56. > :25:00.have been specially bred to be domesticated. But even they admit
:25:00. > :25:04.they're not your average animal. Think carefully before you buy a
:25:04. > :25:09.hedgehog because it's not a pet to have for a few weeks. It's for a
:25:09. > :25:14.lifetime, so you need to care for them properly. They don't require
:25:14. > :25:19.much care, but you've got to offer the right care. Today there are
:25:19. > :25:21.going to be prizes for the best in show hedgehogs. Most of it's on
:25:21. > :25:28.health, temperament, what the hedgehog looks like, perfect ears
:25:28. > :25:32.and things like that. We can drop a few points to decide the winner so
:25:33. > :25:36.they all don't win. Some people argue it's the ideal pet, it's
:25:36. > :25:42.nocturnal, I can be out all day at work, come home, play with my
:25:42. > :25:46.hedgehog? Just like this! But... You can't play with it, it's an
:25:46. > :25:51.animal! You can't play with an animal. Dogs and cats have been
:25:51. > :25:56.bred in captivity for 10,000 years. This guy has been bred in captivity,
:25:57. > :25:59.but they've had 10 years to get used to being domesticated. They're
:26:00. > :26:04.not designed to be domesticated animals, and they don't want to be
:26:04. > :26:07.domesticated animals. And it's simple as that. They don't enjoy
:26:07. > :26:13.being a pet. Are you saying that a wild native British hedgehog
:26:13. > :26:17.wouldn't behave like this or would? It would behave like this. One of
:26:17. > :26:24.my great worries is that, they sell these for �150 each, which is a lot
:26:24. > :26:27.of money in these times. What worries me is people are going to
:26:27. > :26:31.go outside and pick up a British hedgehog which doesn't cost them
:26:31. > :26:35.anything and keep that in captivity. And it shouldn't be. Picking up
:26:35. > :26:40.British hedgehogs, we're just going to run out of hedgehogs.
:26:40. > :26:44.Back at the hedgehog show, tensions are rising. Can I just make a point
:26:44. > :26:48.here that hedgehogs should not actually be kept on hay or straw.
:26:48. > :26:51.I'll have a word with the person who it is later. It can get wrapped
:26:51. > :26:56.around their paws and cut circulation off, so it's not a good
:26:56. > :26:59.substrate to use. And what does it feel like when you're watching them
:26:59. > :27:04.judging, picking your hedgehog up? It's scary because I've never done
:27:04. > :27:14.this before, I'm new to it. winners of the females under five
:27:14. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:18.And if there were any children watching, what advice would you
:27:18. > :27:24.have about if they were going to get a hedgehog? A really sensible
:27:24. > :27:27.bit of advice? Hold them every day at least to make them used to you.
:27:27. > :27:32.What do you think about people who get one and then give up? You've
:27:32. > :27:35.got to keep trying, it's not very fair. You've got to keep trying.
:27:35. > :27:39.the operating theatre, with his cuts cleaned and dressed with honey,
:27:39. > :27:44.the victim of the dog bite is coming round from the anaesthetic.
:27:44. > :27:48.He's all right? There we go! A bit sleepy, we'll pop you back in your
:27:48. > :27:53.cage. Hedgehogs have always been one of our most popular mammals,
:27:53. > :27:57.and that popularity helps generate funds for Les at the hospital. But
:27:57. > :28:01.he feels that having them as pets and keeping them at home is just a
:28:01. > :28:09.step too far. Before all these fads, they had canaries in cages, little
:28:09. > :28:19.canary cages, and goldfish in bowls. Inhumane. Him in a cage is inhumane.
:28:19. > :28:20.
:28:20. > :28:26.He wants to walk two miles a night. And that's just about it for this
:28:26. > :28:31.week. Don't forget the e-mail, jon.cuthill@bbc.co.uk. I'll see you
:28:31. > :28:40.next time. A licence to make money. �564.
:28:40. > :28:43.3680. -- �680. The South's controversial car clamper.
:28:43. > :28:46.Are you Mr White? How can you justify 600 quid? Disgusting, the