Garfield, the fattest hedgehog ever found by local volunteers, has died from liver failure, carers have announced.

They had waged a battle to save her and reduce her weight, but the animal succumbed due to extreme fat deposits in her liver. 

Named after the lazy tabby cat cartoon character, Garfield was rescued in August, when NGO Wildlife Rescue volunteers found her in Pieta, unable to walk and with bleeding hind legs. 

Weighing in at 2.2kg, almost double the size of a normal, healthy hedgehog, Garfield could not walk, and her back legs would drag underneath her body, resulting in her being bruised and bleeding. 

When she was rescued, Garfield’s condition indicated that she was kept as a pet and she became obese due to overfeeding and little exercise.

It is illegal in Malta to keep hedgehogs, and any other wild animals, as pets. 

Over the past six weeks, Angelique Lofaro, one of the NGO Wildlife Rescue Team volunteers had taken care of the anima’s rehabilitation programme. 

“I’m glad that in the end she could at least walk around and was able to interact with other hedgehogs and be a normal hedgehog,” Lofaro told Times of Malta. 

Through proper feeding and hydrotherapy exercises, Garfield had gone down to 1.5kg, and her legs were beginning to show when she walked, and her walking speed was increasing. 

“But I am heartbroken and angry at the person who kept her and allowed her to get to that size. Her death is a direct cause of her being kept as a pet, with way too much food and no exercise.”

Garfield, here seen in her hydrotherapy bath, began to lose weight after volunteer, Angelique Lofaro put her on a strict diet and exercise regime. Photo: Giulia Magri

Last year, the NGO received 765 calls for rescues, 481 of which were for hedgehogs. Up until the end of August, there have been 476 calls, with the majority, 338, just for hedgehogs.