Hero saves Louis the hedgehog trapped behind cooker

Dean Fernihough had the most unusual call-out in his career when a mum from Grindleford rang to say that the prickly adventurer was stuck at the back of an Aga.

He said: "I've had cats under floors but never had to retrieve a hedgehog from behind an oven.”

Unable to move the cast iron cooker, Dean, 36, had to dismantle a worktop and cupboard to get to the captive creature. He said: "I think it crawled in there and kept going forward but couldn't reverse out of the tight space because its spines point backwards."

The hedgehog was none the worse for its spine-tingling ordeal. Dean said: "It wasn't fazed and looked like it had been asleep. I have never seen a hedgehog that close before."

Louis the hedgehog was adopted as a baby by the Schaper family five months ago after he was found in a wood and taken to Bakewell Veterinary Clinic where Willem Schaper is a director.

Willem's wife Nat said: "Louis is treated royally and comes into the house every day for a pet. My ten-year-old daughter Nell brought him into the kitchen, put him on the floor and as she went to close his pen he scuttled behind the Aga.

"We had to switch the Aga off so there was no cooking done that day. Nell threw some biscuits to tempt him to come out but he picked up all the biscuits and pushed them further behind the Aga - I think he was making a nest for himself.

"We expected him to come out but eight hours later we realised he was stuck. We waited until the veterinary got home and he couldn’t help. There was only one person we could call, and that was Dean, who originally fitted the kitchen. He came out at 8pm. He's a complete hero - our knight in shining armour. If it hadn’t been for him the hedgehog would have died.”

Louis' route down the side of the Aga has now been blocked by cushions. He’s being pampered with treats as the family feed him up in readiness to release him back to the wild when he reaches the required weight.

Their kitchen was fitted two years ago by Dean, who runs Millfern Ltd and who was contracted by Buxton Woodworks.