Trevor, founder of East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, was jolted awake on Wednesday morning when his mobile rang.

"I was asleep when I got the call early this morning and was surprised when the foreign sounding lady, who could speak English better than my Spanish, started asking me about hedgehogs," said Trevor.

"The lady had found a hedgehog-like creature which was injured and wanted to know how to look after it.

"To say the least I was a bit surprised as I didn't even know they had hedgehogs in Brazil! I gave the lady some basic advice and urged her to find a vet who would look at the creature.

"This is not the first time we have had a call about wildlife abroad. We have had calls from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and International Animal Rescue has phoned for advice whilst on a trip in India about an injured owl.

"The only strange thing is I am not sure how they got my private number, rather than phoning the WRAS rescue line.

"I am sure it was not a hoax, as the number came up as an international number. She said she had got my details from the Internet."

East Sussex WRAS is a member of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and has asked the society to try and find out what hedgehog-type creatures exist in Brazil.

East Sussex WRAS has a new website which was set up just before Christmas sponsored by International Animal Rescue.

The site has advice pages, news and pictures plus a donations page, and can be found at www.wildlifeambulance.org