Queen’s Long-Running Guitarist Brian May Saves Hedgehogs In His Spare Time

May 24, 2019 by apost team

Rock musician Brian May is certainly a busy and accomplished man. As guitarist of the epic rock band Queen, he has seen a career that has traversed the decades as well as the globe. The 71-year-old is still touring with Queen who is now headed up by Adam Lambert. 2018 saw the release of the Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which told the band’s story with Brian’s consultation. And on top of making music and movies, he is also a Ph.D. holder in astrophysics. But Dr. Brian May still has one more big interest on his list: Hedgehogs.

May appeared on the British Channel 5 TV show “Saving Britain’s Hedgehogs” to show audiences a glimpse into his Amazing Grace rescue center in Surrey, England. There, he and his co-founder Anne Brummer and several staff and volunteers help to rehabilitate British wildlife, especially hedgehogs.

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According to the Amazing Grace website, hedgehog populations are declining drastically in Britain because of habitat loss from construction and intensive farming. The mission of the center is to provide a safe home for the tiny creatures, medical rehabilitation, and plenty of food to eat.

He told presenter Steve Backshall on the show about what this heartwarming hobby means to him:

“The actual hands-on thing of saving animals is so rewarding and so inspiring,” May says on “Saving Britain’s Hedgehogs”, “It’s brought me all kinds of wonderful joys that I never even dreamed of. To see these animals come in hurt, poisoned, dehydrated and see them taken care of and then let out for another chance in the wild, to me it’s one of the greatest joys that’s ever come into my life.”

The two were chatting while releasing convalescing hogs into a magical space in the rescue center of pesticide-free vegetables and plenty of burrowing areas nicknamed “Hedgehog Heaven.” The space is set up to be an intermediary between captivity and being freed into the wild.

The program also follows the dramatic amputation surgery of one of Brian’s hogs, Philomena. During the tense time, he reacts by saying, “I don’t think any of us realized how stressful it was going to be...You realize how much on a knife-edge an operation like that is.”

After the surgery and when he knew that the little hedgie was going to be just fine, the rockstar breathed a sigh of relief and said, “It’s hard being a parent!”

Watch Brian on "Saving Britain's Hedgehogs" in the video below.

What do you think of the rock legend’s unusual hobby? Is it strange to see him working so hard for little backyard animals or is it noble of him to share his wealth with those in need? Let us know in the comments and let the animal lover in your life know too.