Latest news with #JamesLewis
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
B.C. dad credits ‘child life specialists' for reducing trauma of son's cancer treatment
A Vancouver Island dad is praising a group of health-care professionals for protecting his child from some of the trauma associated with cancer. A Vancouver Island father is praising a group of health-care professionals for protecting his child from some of the trauma tied to a cancer diagnosis. Four-year-old Eli Lewis was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in December. Since then, he has endured chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant. 'Eli kind of saw the hospital as the thing that was causing him harm, which we all know wasn't true,' said his father, James Lewis. The Lewis family lives in Black Creek near Campbell River. They've spent the past 162 days at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver, where Lewis estimates they've encountered more than 100 health-care professionals. Eli is quite taken with one group of hospital workers in particular. 'Even on those days where Eli was really sick in bed and unable to move, having the child life specialist come in and make a baking soda volcano — that would boost his spirits,' Lewis said. B.C. Children's Hospital employs dozens of child life specialists, who help sick kids cope with the stress of hospitalization. They play with young patients and explain complex medical procedures in child friendly ways. 'It is … a relatively newer field,' said B.C. Children's Hospital child life specialist Ashley Tolerton. 'With that awareness, hopefully, will come the opportunity for there to be more child life specialists within more hospitals across B.C. to better support our patients and families in their local communities.' Child life specialists are clinically trained. They must get certified and complete a 600-hour internship after obtaining a bachelor's degree, Tolerton said. 'I'd love to play!' The team talked Eli through his fear of anesthetic, Lewis said 'He would talk about how he didn't like the darkness,' Lewis said. 'Having professionals around to help Eli … come to terms with this and talk about fears and being able to approach him in a constructive manner was really, really nice.' They also helped Eli get comfortable with a port that was put in his chest to administer medication. 'He really had body image issues after that. He didn't like anybody looking at it,' Lewis said. 'They had dolls where they could show Eli and myself and Eli's mom what this is, how the port goes in, how it works, and how it looks.' As the family prepares to leave the hospital on Friday, Tolerton remembers how fearful Eli was when he first got there. 'Now we're at the point where Eli comes and knocks on my door and he peeks his head in … and he goes, 'Ashley?' And he's like, 'I'd love to play!'' she said. Lewis expects his son to make a full recovery. He knows Eli isn't leaving mentally or physically unscathed, but credits the child life team for limiting the hurt his child will carry. 'It really did help us through this to the point where Eli, he's probably going to walk out of the hospital tomorrow and he has nothing but good things to say,' Lewis said. He hopes donors continue to support the program, so more children can experience the care Eli received.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who Was the Tylenol Serial Killer? Revisiting the Terrifying True Story of Netflix's' Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders'
In 1982, seven people died in Chicago after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol James Lewis, who died in 2023, was considered a primary suspect for decades, though he was never charged in connection with the crime In May 2025, Netflix released a docuseries titled Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, featuring LewisIt's been over 40 years since the Tylenol serial killer triggered a nationwide panic after seven people in the Chicago area ingested poisoned pain medication and were left dead. Over the course of just over 48 hours, victims between the ages of 12 and 35 suffered cardiac arrest immediately after taking Tylenol capsules that had unknowingly been laced with lethal doses of cyanide. As each victim was hospitalized, medical professionals worked around the clock to uncover what had caused their sudden deaths. It was the joint effort of a fire lieutenant, a public health official and an ICU doctor who connected that all the patients had taken the pain killer just before their death. Given their symptoms, the doctor concluded that the victims had exhibited signs of cyanide poisoning, and lab tests quickly proved his theory correct, per the Chicago Tribune. The swift thinking of emergency personnel helped expedite the process to inform the public and save the lives of many other potential victims. But just who was behind the murders was a mystery — and the case remains unsolved to this day. While James Lewis, a man who sent a ransom letter to Tylenol manufacturer Johnson & Johnson shortly after the murders, has been a primary suspect for the past 40 years, he was never charged with the crime. Although he did spend time behind bars for extortion, he maintained his innocence until the day he died in 2023. Now, the Tylenol murders are being revisited in the Netflix documentary Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, which is currently streaming and features interviews with Lewis. So what happened during the Tylenol murders? Here's everything to know about the crimes and decades-long investigation. In September 1982, numerous people in the Chicago area died under mysterious circumstances over the span of just a few days — and their deaths were eventually linked to Tylenol capsules that had been contaminated with cyanide. The incident led to mass panic from the public surrounding over-the-counter medication. Within hours of contaminated medication being discovered, news spread around the Chicago area. News publications and radio stations extensively covered the poisonings to spread the word before more people could be impacted. Police officers drove through neighborhoods and used bullhorns to tell the public to throw out their Tylenol. Public health officials went door-to-door with flyers. Tylenol was quickly pulled from shelves around Chicago, per the Chicago Tribune, eventually leading to a nationwide recall of Tylenol products. In total, seven people were killed by ingesting contaminated Tylenol, although there may have been other unknown victims. The casualties included a child as well as three members of the same family: Mary Kellerman, 12, Adam Janus, 27, Stanley Janus, 25, Theresa 'Terri' Janus, 20, Mary McFarland, 31, Paula Prince, 35, and Mary Reiner, 27. The first death linked to the Tylenol poisonings was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman, who collapsed at home and was pronounced dead just hours after ingesting a laced capsule, per the Chicago Tribune. Later that day, Adam Janus, a 27-year-old mailman, also died shortly after being hospitalized. His death was initially ruled a heart attack, according to CBS News, but what happened in the days that followed alerted medical professionals that foul play may have been involved. Just hours after Adam was pronounced dead, his brother Stanley and his wife Terri visited his home to begin making funeral plans. Not feeling well, they each took Tylenol capsules from the bottle that had unknowingly caused Adam's death. They both immediately began experiencing chest pains and collapsed. It was Fire Lt. Chuck Kramer who recognized that just that morning, authorities had responded to a similar emergency at the same address. Believing the incidents were linked and could have affected other members of the family, he ordered everyone else in the house to be quarantined at the hospital. He then contacted Arlington Heights' only public health official, Helen Jensen, to begin an investigation into the deaths, per the Chicago Tribune. After interviewing family members, Jensen concluded that all three people had taken Tylenol shortly before their deaths. She later went to the Janus family home and picked up the bottle of Tylenol, realizing that it was a new bottle that had only been used by the three family members. She brought it back to the Cook County medical examiner's office and declared that there must be something wrong with the pills. She was initially ignored. Meanwhile, others were coming to the same conclusion. Dr. Thomas Kim, who was treating the Janus family, told Lt. Kramer that he believed the deaths were caused by something they had all ingested. Later that night, when Lt. Kramer spoke to a firefighter on the scene of Kellerman's death, he learned that the little girl had also taken Tylenol — and they began putting things together. When Dr. Kim learned of the connection, he began brainstorming what could have caused such a sudden onset of symptoms. After consulting with poison experts, he concluded that the effects of cyanide matched up with the victims' sudden cardiac arrest. Unable to run tests at his hospital, he sent two vials of blood from Stanley and Terri to a 24-hour lab via a taxi cab. With the information from Dr. Kim, the medical examiner's office began to look into the Tylenol bottles from the Janus and Kellerman households. With just a smell test, an investigator could tell there was cyanide inside. The county's chief toxicologist began to run tests on the Tylenol capsules and quickly realized that some of the pills contained nearly three times the amount needed to kill someone. Shortly after, lab results confirmed that Stanley and Terri — as well as several other victims — had died from acute cyanide poisoning. No one has ever been charged for the deaths resulting from the tainted medication, and the identity of the Tylenol serial killer remains unknown. However, Lewis has long been considered the primary suspect. In the midst of the investigation surrounding the contaminated Tylenol bottles, authorities uncovered that Lewis had sent a ransom letter to Tylenol's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, demanding $1 million in order to 'stop the killing,' according to the Associated Press. He immediately became a suspect in the case. At the time, Lewis was described by police as a 'chameleon,' living across several states and using at least 20 aliases. He worked numerous different jobs, including computer specialist, tax accountant, importer of Indian tapestries and salesman of jewelry, pharmaceutical machinery and real estate, per AP. He also had a history of trouble with the law. Several years prior to the poisonings, he had been accused of murdering and dismembering Raymond West, who had been one of his accounting clients. The charges were ultimately dropped because West's cause of death was not determined and some evidence had been illegally obtained. Then, in 1981, Lewis was convicted of mail fraud as part of a credit card scheme, using the name of a former tax client to illegally obtain 13 credit cards. Around that time, he also sent a letter to then-President Ronald Reagan, threatening to kill him with a remote-controlled plane, per UPI. Given his troubled past and his letter to Johnson & Johnson, authorities began an intensive investigation into Lewis's involvement in the crime. Lewis was never convicted of murdering the seven people who died after ingesting the contaminated medication, but remained a primary suspect for the majority of his life. During early interviews with Lewis, he denied involvement in the poisonings but confessed to writing the extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson. The letter referenced how 'easy' it could be to contaminate medication and said it could take him 'less than 10 minutes per bottle.' While he did not admit to contaminating the Tylenol, he did offer an explanation as to how he believed the crime took place. He told authorities that the culprit was likely to have bought the Tylenol and then later added the cyanide and returned the bottles to store shelves. In the years that followed, he said he offered the explanation because he was treating the investigation as he would a business situation. 'I was doing like I would have done for a corporate client, making a list of possible scenarios,' he told AP in 1992. He called the killer 'a heinous, cold-blooded killer, a cruel monster.' Lewis was not able to be linked to the tainted bottles through forensic testing, and he could not be placed in Chicago at the time of the crime. Despite the suspicion surrounding him, there was not enough evidence to convict Lewis. He was never charged with murder but did go to trial on charges of extortion stemming from the ransom letter he wrote to Johnson & Johnson. In June 1984, he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 10 years in prison, per The New York Times. Over the past four decades, authorities have continued to investigate the Tylenol serial killer case. On several occasions, they have come up with leads, with many seemingly pointing back to Lewis. Around 2007, further investigation was prompted by authorities who wanted a 'complete review of all evidence developed in connection' with the poisonings with the benefit of advances in forensic technology. During an undercover sting operation, Lewis confessed that it had taken him three days to write the extortion letter, per the Chicago Tribune. Using advanced technology, investigators were able to uncover that the letter had an Oct. 1, 1982, postmark — meaning that Lewis began writing the letter before news of the poisoned Tylenol was made public. When Lewis was presented with the information, he recanted his statement, claiming to have a 'faulty memory.' In the years that followed, the FBI met with or had phone conversations with Lewis at least 34 times, according to CBS News. The FBI also obtained fresh samples of his DNA and fingerprints, but they did not match any of the DNA recovered on the contaminated bottles. Authorities also raided Lewis' suburban Boston condo and storage locker, seizing a laptop among other items. They also collected a poison handbook that Lewis had in his home prior to moving to Chicago in 1981, per the Chicago Tribune. Investigators even found Lewis' fingerprints on pages that discussed how much cyanide would be needed to kill someone. Lewis continued to deny his involvement in the crime, and authorities were unable to charge Lewis with murder. In July 2023, Lewis died at the age of 76. Police in Cambridge, Mass., told PEOPLE that Lewis was found unresponsive in his home and was pronounced dead shortly after. 'Following an investigation, Lewis' death was determined to be not suspicious,' police added. After the news was made public, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis, who had prosecuted Lewis for extortion, told the Chicago Tribune and CBS News Chicago that he 'was saddened to learn of James Lewis' death' — not because of the death itself but because Lewis 'didn't die in prison.' However, before his death, Lewis was interviewed for the 2025 Netflix docuseries about the case. He continued to deny his involvement in the poisonings, saying, "They make it look like I'm the world's most horrible, dangerous person ever ... and I wouldn't hurt anybody." Read the original article on People
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Was James Lewis The Tylenol Killer? The Chilling True Story Behind Netflix's Docuseries
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders Four decades after the Tylenol murders caused mass panic in Chicago and across the country, Netflix's new docuseries Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders is revisiting the unsolved case. What happened in one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history, and why has justice never been served? In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died under the same mysterious circumstances: they had all taken Extra-Strength Tylenol. After testing, each of the capsules was found to be laced with potassium cyanide at toxic levels high enough to provide 'thousands of fatal doses,' Time Magazine reported. News of the poisoned capsules sparked fear among the six million residents of the Chicago area. Health officials quickly advised the public to stop using the over-the-counter medication, and authorities went door-to-door warning residents of the potential danger. From directors Yotam Guendelman and Ari Pines, Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders dives into the 'shocking theories and evidence, looks at new testimonies, and even gets inside the mind of a key suspect,' according to Netflix's Tudum. Read on for a deeper dive into the Tylenol Murders, including who the victims were, the main person of interest James Lewis, and what happened to Johnson & Johnson during the investigation. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders The first victim was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman, whose parents gave her Tylenol after she complained of a cold. She died just hours later. Postal worker Adam Janus died later that morning after taking the pills for chest pain. While mourning his death, Adam's brother, Stanley, and Stanley's wife, Theresa, who were both suffering from headaches, also took Tylenol and died later that day. Another victim was 27-year-old Mary Reiner, who had just returned home after giving birth to her first child. Paula Prince, a 35-year-old United Airlines flight attendant, was also found dead in her apartment with an open Tylenol bottle nearby. Paramedics said there was so much cyanide on her lips that anyone who tried to resuscitate her might have been poisoned as well. The seventh victim was 31-year-old Mary McFarland of Elmhurst, who collapsed at work after taking Tylenol for a headache. A pathologist's test found cyanide in her blood, the New York Times reported at the time. The Netflix documentary notes that there could be more victims, as cyanide tests are rarely included in a standard autopsy toxicology screen unless there is a specific reason to suspect poisoning. For example, if an elderly person had ingested cyanide, the cause of death might have been harder to detect. American businessman and CEO of Johnson and Johnson, James Burke, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1981. ... More (Photo by Brownie Harris/Corbis via Getty Images) In the early days of the investigation, Johnson & Johnson executives feared they might bear some responsibility for the murders, according to the Netflix docuseries. At the time, Tylenol was the pharmaceutical company's most profitable product. Illinois Attorney General Tyrone Fahner, who was interviewed in the series, recalled telling Johnson & Johnson to stop selling Tylenol – prompting what would become the largest product recall in history. While testing the contents of the Tylenol bottles, investigators noticed that some capsules had brown rings forming at the ends, evidence of cyanide corrosion. It became clear that the capsules had been pulled apart, emptied of their medicine, and refilled with cyanide. It was also revealed that the contaminated pills came from two different manufacturing plants, one in suburban Philadelphia and the other in Texas. After both facilities showed no evidence of cyanide tampering, investigators began to suspect that someone had tampered with the capsules after they reached store shelves. The tainted Tylenol bottles had been sold at various drugstores across the Chicago area. Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders Police had no major investigative leads, no connections between the victims, no witnesses, and no clear motive until October 6, 1982. Seven days after the murders, Johnson & Johnson received an extortion letter threatening that more people would be poisoned if certain demands were not met. The letter demanded that $1 million be deposited into an account at Chicago's Continental Bank or a second wave of killings would follow. Investigators believed the person who wrote the letter was likely involved, as he demonstrated specific knowledge about poison and how it works. The bank account was linked to a travel agency called Lakeside Travel, owned by Fred Miller McCahey, a wealthy businessman. McCahey told authorities he had recently gotten into a dispute with a volatile man named Robert Richardson, the husband of one of his employees, Nancy Richardson. Employees at the travel agency noted that the handwriting on the extortion letter resembled Robert's. Handwriting experts later confirmed that it was identical. After Robert and Nancy fled, authorities attempted to track him down using a photo published alongside an article he had written for the Chicago Tribune. Investigators also noted that he resembled the man seen in surveillance footage from the store where Mary McFarland had purchased the lethal Tylenol, per Cold Case. James Lewis in "Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders." David Barton, a former sergeant with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, recalled seeing a photo of Richardson on the news and immediately sensing something was off. 'I looked at the picture, and I immediately recognized him, jumped up off the couch and said, 'Goddam it, that's not Robert Richardson,'' Barton told Netflix. 'That's not Robert Richardson… that's James Lewis.' Lewis, a tax consultant, became the police's prime suspect in the Tylenol murders. He also had a criminal history. In 1978, Lewis was charged with murder in Kansas City after police discovered the dismembered remains of one of his former clients, Raymond West, in bags in his attic. Authorities also found a forged check that Lewis tried to cash from West's account. However, charges were dropped after a judge ruled that the search of Lewis' home was illegal, according to In 2004, he was charged with rape and kidnapping, but the case was dropped. Lewis was interviewed for Netflix's docuseries, where he denied any involvement in the crimes. "They make it look like I'm the world's most horrible, dangerous person ever... and I wouldn't hurt anybody," Lewis said. Lewis was convicted of extortion for the letter and spent more than 12 years in federal prison. 'I did not consider it an extortion letter because I did not actually have access to making any money from that letter,' he told Netflix. Although officials found drafts of extortion letters in James Lewis's home, along with a book about poisonings, tying him directly to the Tylenol murders was difficult. He was never charged with the killings because authorities could not confirm that he was in the Chicago area during the murders. He had reportedly taken an Amtrak train to New York City and was staying in a hotel there, but police couldn't prove that he returned to Chicago. The FBI reopened the investigation in early 2009 and continued to focus on Lewis. They searched his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as a nearby storage unit he had rented. According to CBS News, in September 2022, members of the task force returned to Boston to re-interview him. Lewis passed away in 2023. IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 17: The Johnson & Johnson logo is displayed at company offices on ... More October 17, 2023 in Irvine, California. Johnson & Johnson beat Wall Street's quarterly revenue and earnings estimates as sales in its pharmaceutical and medical devices businesses grew. (Photo by) Johnson & Johnson has denied that there was any chance their pills could have been tampered with at their factories, claiming that no cyanide was used in their facilities. However, as the documentary reveals, that turned out to be false. 'Cyanide is present and is used in crucial tests of the Tylenol,' former New York Times pharmaceutical reporter Gardiner Harris said in the series. He also pointed out that the company did most of the investigating themselves, even though they seemed to have 'every season to hide the extent of the contamination problems.' The documentary reveals that potassium cyanide was used it a quality control tests of Tylenol and was found in the vicinity of where the pills were assembled. In 1988, a court ruled that Johnson & Johnson wasn't liable for Diane Elsroth's death. The families of the Chicago victims also sued the company in 1983, claiming that the Johnson & Johnson knew that their bottles ould be tampered with. Johnson & Johnson settled the suit in 1991 and agreed to pay an undisclosed sum without admitting liability. "Though there is no way we could have anticipated a criminal tampering with our product or prevented it, we wanted to do something for the families and finally get this tragic event behind us," Robert Kniffin, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, said at the time. Bruce Pfaff, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the agreement 'a very favorable settlement for my clients.' Several of the families were seeking between $10 million and $15 million for wrongful death, pain and suffering, and funeral expenses, according to The New York Times. A worker checks the newly implemented safety seals on Tylenol bottles shortly after the company's ... More re-release of Tylenol capsules in 1982. A few months earlier, a Chicago man poisoned Tylenol with cyanide, killing several people. | Location: Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, USA. (Photo by �� Leif Skoogfors/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Johnson & Johnson was ultimately able to successfully re-launch Tylenol after the scare. The company overhauled its manufacturing process and introduced three separate safety seals to Tylenol packaging. First was an outer box with glued flaps. Second, a tight plastic neck seal covering the cap and neck of the bottle. And finally, a strong inner foil seal placed over the mouth of the bottle. Four years after the original murders, on February 8, 1986, Diane Elsroth of Yonkers, New York, died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that were found to contain cyanide, even though the bottle had a triple safety seal. Johnson & Johnson claimed at the time that someone had penetrated all the seals, resecured them, and returned the bottles to the shelf. The Netflix documentary reported that two additional triple-sealed bottles of Tylenol were also found to contain the poison. Ultimately, the Westchester District Attorney was able to determine where the pills had been tampered with. In the aftermath of the Tylenol poisonings, other pharmaceutical and food companies began implementing tamper-proof seals and safety indicators during the manufacturing process. These changes significantly reduced the number of copycat incidents. 'Before 1982, nobody thought twice about opening a bottle of painkillers,' Guendelman and Pines told Tudum. 'Today, every tamper-proof seal is a reminder of that dark moment — when cyanide-laced capsules transformed an everyday medicine into a murder weapon, permanently reshaping consumer industries." Watch the official trailer for Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders below.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This Chilling True Crime Docuseries About The Tylenol Murders Is The Top Show On Netflix
'Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders' is the top TV show on Netflix this week, according to the streamer's public ranking system. The docuseries, which debuted on Monday with three episodes, investigates who is to blame for the 1982 killings of seven people in the Chicago area who took extra-strength Tylenol laced with cyanide and died shortly after. The series features interviews with the victims' families, journalists, federal investigators — and the case's primary suspect, James Lewis, who gave his last interview about the investigation for the project. He died in July 2023. Like the title of the docuseries notes, the case is cold, and authorities never found out who was responsible for the deaths. But the series is a gripping exploration of a public health crisis and one of the largest unsolved crimes in U.S. history. Read on for more trending shows of the moment across streaming services, including Hulu, Apple TV+, Max and Prime Video. And if you want to stay informed about all things streaming and entertainment, subscribe to the Culture Catchall newsletter. Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant reality series premiered on Hulu last week and is already pulling in audiences. The chef, known for his brusque yet helpful culinary direction, is assisting struggling restaurateurs to turn their businesses around. In the first episode, he takes his talents to a Greek restaurant in Washington, D.C. The second episode debuts on Thursday on Hulu. Max released 'Pee-Wee as Himself,' a two-part docuseries featuring actor Paul Reubens, on Friday. In his own words, Reubens shares his life story and talks about his beloved character, Pee-Wee Herman. Director Matt Wolf said that he didn't realize Reubens, who died in 2023, was terminally ill while interviewing him for the docuseries. If you love NASCAR and family dynasties, perhaps you should check out 'Earnhardt,' Prime Video's new docuseries on racing extraordinaire Dale Earnhardt. The four-part series made its series premiere on May 21 with two episodes and the final two parts air on Wednesday. It explores the 'legendary racing career and complex family dynamics of the NASCAR superstar,' according to its logline. Apple TV+'s 'Your Friends and Neighbors' is creeping to the end of its first season this week — the finale airs on Friday — and is continuing to capture eyeballs on the streamer. Starring Jon Hamm, Olivia Munn and Amanda Peet, the TV series follows Coop (Hamm), a finance whiz who loses his job and decides to rob his wealthy neighbors to keep himself afloat. It's a fun and twisty drama that, thankfully, has already been renewed for Season 2. If you're looking for other TV shows to watch, check out our What We're Watching blog. 'The Last of Us' Season 2 Finale Confirms A Huge Missed Opportunity 'The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives' Is A Fascinating Look At Faith And Social Media Fame This 1 Moment Saves The New 'Mission: Impossible' From Being A Total Letdown
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Campaign launched to save hedgehogs as population declines by 75% in 20 years
A campaign has been launched to help save Britain's hedgehogs. a platform for hiring tradespeople, is urging its community to assist in making gardens more hedgehog-friendly. This comes as the hedgehog population has plummeted by 75 per cent over the last two decades, primarily due to habitat destruction from urban expansion and housing developments. The initiative is part of a larger campaign to raise awareness of the issue across the UK. James Lewis, a gardening expert from said: "Even if you only have a small garden or driveway area, there are improvements you can make to support hedgehogs. "A really important step to take is to make sure that the animals can access your garden from other areas, so cutting a small hole in the bottom of fencing or hedging can be really beneficial to them. "Building a hedgehog house is also a great way to help provide shelter and protection - and can easily be done with a small amount of timber." READ: Guided bird watching walk to take place at Brownsea Island Gardening expert, James Lewis. (Image: MyBuilder) According to MyBuilder data, a quarter of Brits have never seen a hedgehog in the wild, a figure that rises to 40 per cent among those aged 18 to 34. Yet, 73 per cent of people in the UK expressed interest in helping hedgehogs in their gardens. The MyBuilder guide, created by professionals passionate about increasing the British hedgehog population, offers simple steps to turn gardens into hedgehog sanctuaries. These include leaving some areas wild, avoiding pesticides or slug pellets, checking the garden before mowing, building a hedgehog home, covering drains and ensuring constant access. See the full steps at: Sharon Jacobs, a senior nurse from Tiggywinkle's, the world's busiest wildlife hospital and a specialist in hedgehogs, said: "This guide provides great basic steps for British gardeners to take to really create an area that is supportive to the safety and health of hedgehogs. "On top of this, we would urge gardeners to take care when mowing, strimming or hedgecutting. "We see thousands of injuries from this sort of activity every year, and it can be easily avoided by checking the areas you are working on before starting." For more information on the campaign and how to help during Hedgehog Awareness Week, visit the MyBuilder website.
