A Twickenham animal rescue has hit the headlines thanks to a pair of prickly guests.

Jay Jay and King are two albino hedgehogs, though technically King is a blond albino, that have taken up residency at Sue Kidger’s sanctuary.

The pair, female and male respectively, will have to get used to each other as they are both blind, a common ailment among albino hedgehogs, and therefore will not be released back into the wild.

Mrs Kidger said: “My whole aim in life is not to get pretty pictures in the papers but to get these hedgehogs back out in the wild and breeding them as they are fast becoming endangered.”

The centre, which started in 2000, came about from her passion for animals.

One night Mrs Kidger’s husband was smoking a cigarette in the back garden and spotted a “rat”.

She went to investigate, found it was a hedgehog and took it in.

From their she started working with Putney Animal Hospital (PAH) before setting up the rescue centre.

Now animals from all over south-west London come to Sue, with not only the PAH forwarding people to the rescue but also the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Tiggywinkles.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Twickenham Hedgehog Rescue can contact Sue on 020 8894 3712.