HEDGEHOGS and swans are some of the animals that suffer at the hands of litterlouts.

Discarded everyday items such as ice cream pots and chewing gum can injure and even kill local wildlife.

Eileen Unnuk, the hospital manager of HART Wildlife Rescue in Overton, knows better than most about the devastating effects of litter.

She told The Gazette that many of the 4,000 patients which have passed through the hospital have been injured as a result of rubbish left lying around.

Mrs Unnuk reeled off a long list of casualties, including a long-eared owl whose wing was ripped off after it got tangled in a heap of barbed wire, and a cygnet which could no longer feed itself because it had fish wire wrapped around its mouth and neck.

She highlighted the most common, and often most dangerous litter items, such as chewing gum, which can stick a bird's beak shut, plastic packing rings for drinks cans and ice cream pots, which get stuck in hedgehogs' spines and can trap them.

Mrs Unnuk explained: "Litter is a very serious issue for wildlife because it causes so much suffering.

"A lot of it is down to ignorance. I don't think people mean to go out and cause damage. But if an animal is not found, it will die a slow and lingering death."

Staff from the rescue centre, which was established in 1996 and is the only wildlife hospital in Hampshire, give educational talks about the effects of litter on wildlife to a variety of audiences, and Mrs Unnuk said listeners were often surprised that everyday objects could be so hazardous to wildlife.

She added: "It makes me feel a combination of frustration and sadness. It's horrible to think of the animals suffering.

"I get angry with people who drop litter, but I'm also angry with some of the firms who make the packaging, as the dangers of certain designs have been drawn to their attention but they don't seem to do anything about it."

Mrs Unnuk advised people to use litter bins, especially for chewing gum, and to cut up the plastic lids of drinks cups and crush ice cream pots before putting them in the bin, to prevent animals crawling into them.

HART Wildlife Rescue can be contacted on 01256 770438.