Hammered hedgehogs rescued from playground

A pair of hedgehogs had to be rescued from a playground in Germany and taken to a zoo to sleep off a hangover after unwittingly lapping up the contents of a broken bottle of booze.

The hedgehogs were found passed out by residents next to a bottle of advocaat

The two hedgehogs were found motionless by a concerned resident in Erfurt, central Germany, on Sunday, as reported by local newspaper Thuringer Allgemeine.

Close by was a broken bottle of advocaat that had been left in the playground, that the pair had seemingly stumbled upon and overindulged in the egg-based liqueur.

Police were called to their rescue, and the hungover hedgehogs were taken to Thüringer Zoo Park to recover.

Animals of all shapes and sizes are periodically caught hitting the bottle, usually after stumbling upon carelessly discarded bottles. But it seems animals have a particular fondness for advocaat – a 20% abv liqueur made with eggs, sugar and brandy. 

In 2014, another hedgehog was found passed out in a gutter after guzzling the contents of a discarded bottle in Arnhem, Holland, while in the UK a pair of spaniels snaffled their owner’s bottle of advocaat and were found “staggering and swaying” in the garden.

Check out out our top 12 drunken animal stories here.