A CREATIVE entrepreneur has set up her own jewellery business to support helpless animals.

Acomb-based Little Silver Hedgehog is the brainchild of Emma Farley who uses silver clay to create unique jewellery inspired by wildlife and nature.

Each piece is individually crafted, sanded and polished by hand, and have so far helped spread the message of support all over the world including Cantabria in Spain and British Columbia in Canada.

All profits from the jewellery support her work rescuing hedgehogs and paying for the food, medication, equipment and other treatments to release them back into the wild.

Mrs Farley said: "Hedgehogs are an endangered species and it is wonderful to be able to combine my passions of animals, the outdoors and craft making to be able to help them.

"It is a fantastic feeling to know that you have helped their survival and when they are ‘born free’ back to where they belong.

"There are lots of things that people can do to help including making their gardens wildlife friendly, linking their gardens with others - hedgehogs roam several kilometres a night - and contacting a hedgehog rescuer if they spot one out in daylight.

"I’m currently saving up for a microscope to help identify parasites so that they can be treated earlier, helping their chances of survival.”

Mrs Farley, originally from Devon and a graduate of the University of Sheffield, cares for the hedgehogs in hutches in her garage, where each one has somewhere to sleep and eat, and a place to run outdoors, where they are soft released to get them used to the conditions.

When they are a suitable health and weight to be released back to the wild she then seeks suitable gardens to release them.

Ideally this is where they were originally found but that isn’t always possible, especially if it was close to a main road or has another danger, such as an uncovered pond.