Could this hedgehog stop London's plans for HS2?

A group of hedgehogs living in a car park at London Zoo have become the latest obstacle to plans to build the HS2 rail scheme in the capital.

The 11 hedgehogs have taken centre stage in the ongoing protests against the controversial plans for the high speed railway.

Hedgehogs will be extinct in 10 years, warn experts

Animal experts at the zoo have joined hundreds of other opponents to the project as they campaign save the only group of wild hedgehogs living in a London park from extinction.

Anger in Oxfordshire village as 500 lorries planned for HS2 development

The zoo's ecologists argue that the hedgehogs would be killed if their home is turned into a lorry depot during the building of the new line from London to Birmingham.

The London Zoological Society, which runs Regent's Park, is among more than 820 petitioners to the House of Lords objecting to the HS2 line.

Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, which supports the zoo's objections, told the Mail on Sunday: "It's the only Royal Park with a hedgehog population.

"We support any calls to protect the area they're in from HS2 developments because that's going to impact on that population, which may not be able to re-populate after any work has been done. The best possible solution is for the hedgehogs not to be disturbed at all.

Find out more about the Stop HS2 campaignhere.

Find out how to help hedgehogs by visiting the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.