Bandit, a renegade hedgehog, eluded Lawrence authorities for more than a year.
Now he's exiled to rural Douglas County, safe from an ordinance that bans the animals within city limits.
A young hedgehog named Otis was a recent Valentine's Day gift for Kelly Kearns from her boyfriend. Since the critters are not listed on a city ordinance naming animals allowed in town, the popular pets are considered illegal in Lawrence.
Bandit's owner, Aaron Lathrom, got the hedgehog pet from a friend who lived in the city. Like other hedgehog enthusiasts, he isn't sure why the animals are outlawed in town.
"I think it's more of an environment issue, so people don't let loose 50 hedgehogs in downtown or South Park," Lathrom speculated.
Whatever the reason for it, the ban apparently isn't working. Lawrence pet experts say there are more hedgehogs in the city than ever, and a hedgehog underground is springing up.
The hedgehog boom is despite a 9-year-old Lawrence ordinance banning them. The law specifically names the animals that are allowed in town. Dogs, cats, domesticated rodents, ferrets, birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, amphibians and fish are OK.
Because they aren't mentioned, hedgehogs are illegal.
Something like palm-size porcupines, hedgehogs eat insects and other small creatures in the wild. In captivity, they often eat specialized hedgehog food, with a side order of mealworms. Natives of central Africa, they're best known for curling into a ball when threatened and bristling the spines that cover their backs for protection.
Hedgehog underground
Their rarity could be one reason for their popularity. It might be because of Sonic the Hedgehog, a video game character. Being an outlaw hedgehog owner also may play a role.
"There's a growing population of people who want something exotic something people don't have," said Midge Grinstead, director of the Lawrence Humane Society.
That's exactly what led Patrick Niles to pay a dealer $80 for a hedgehog he gave to his girlfriend, Kelly Kearns.
"Everybody's had a hamster," Niles said. "And I wouldn't say it's rare, but it's unusual to have or know someone who's had a hedgehog."
Niles, who works at Petco, 3115 Iowa, acknowledged there is an "underground network" of exotic pets that are banned in Lawrence. The list includes sugar gliders, a marsupial from Australia and New Guinea that has become popular in recent years.
There are even competitions for hedgehogs. One such show, sponsored by the International Hedgehog Club, will be conducted March 17 in Iola. Organizer Antigone Means said she expects up to 50 contestants. The critters are judged on temperament as well as physical appearance. Categories include senior hedgehogs (those over 4 years old) and handicapped hedgehogs.
For more information, visit http://hedgies.homestead.
com/show3.html.
Stacy Spohn, another Petco employee and former hedgehog owner, said she understands the growing popularity of the animal.
"They can be very lovable, and they're just the cutest little things when they roll up in a ball and stick their head out," she said.
The hedgehog law
David Corliss, the assistant city manager who wrote the 1992 animal control ordinance, said the legalized animals were recommended by the humane society and law enforcement officials. He doesn't know why hedgehogs were banned.
It could have been that they simply weren't popular enough at the time to be considered as pets that needed to be included as legal.
Sgt. Doug Bell of the city's animal control unit said that if officers discovered a hedgehog, they would require it to be removed from the city. But because the department typically only responds to complaint calls, that isn't likely to happen.
"I've dealt with a lot of animals," he said, "but hedgehogs aren't one of them."
In Topeka, animal control officer Linda Halford said that city's ordinance was vague enough that officers allow residents to keep hedgehogs especially because they aren't a problem.
"They're usually not running down the street attacking people," she said. "They sit in the palm of your hands."
No porcine threat
Means, of the hedgehog club, said "a lot of regulations are based on a lack of knowledge about the animals."
For instance, she said, a Pennsylvania law banned the import of hedgehogs from out of state because officials thought it would cut into the state's pork industry.
Korrie Arnold, a manager at Scales and Tails Exotic Pets, 2201 W. 25th St., said she thought the ban might be related to the amount of care the animals require.
"They're spiny or pokey," she said. "They wouldn't be a good pet for a child. They hurt, but they wouldn't damage you. I guess they just haven't deemed them suitable for pets. They need a little more special care than most animals."
But that explanation wasn't enough for Spohn.
"I have no idea why they would outlaw them, other than they're an exotic animal," she said. "Some cities outlaw ferrets. Who knows why they do some things?"
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