It turns out, legalizing pygmy hedgehogs was a more prickly issue than it seemed.

Lawmakers tucked a small piece of legislation into a much larger health bill this fall that would allow the small mammals to be kept as pets. The Vulnerable Population and Employer Protection Amendment Act of 2017, which largely deals with a variety of other unrelated issues, passed unanimously on a first reading at the D.C. Council last month.

The hedgehog provision seemed to grant the wishes of a Hill East couple that hopes to adopt one of the creatures and had lobbied Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen to legalize them.

D.C. names the specific animals that can be kept as pets (dogs, cats, birds, chickens, rodents, rabbits, non-venomous snakes, turtles, and ferrets). At Allen’s request, Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray introduced an amendment to add pygmy hedgehogs to the list.

“Where do I start, besides they’re adorable,” said Colleen McCormick in August, explaining how she fell in love with a hedgehog at a camp nearly a decade ago and has wanted to own one ever since. “It’s one thing to have a hedgehog that you secret away, and another to have a community of people who can be open about the fact that they love these adorable critters.” 

So she and her husband contacted their local representatives for the first time in their lives to lobby for change. They were delighted with the result. “It’s really great to see the local processes work, and to work in such a frictionless, smooth way … It’s not the typical experience with bureaucracy that I have,” Gerstein said last month, after the bill passed on first reading.

The couple planned to start looking for a hedgehog that needed a home, rather than buying one from a breeder, as soon as the law was enacted.

But before the Council took a second vote on the bill at a marathon legislative session on December 4, Allen moved to strike the handful of sentences that would have legalized the animals. He said that he plans to re-introduce it next year.

“It’s a fairly small, cute, little non-germane amendment that we’ll just introduce as standalone legislation in the new council period,” he joked at the dais. 

The Humane Rescue Alliance had gotten in touch with his office to express concerns. “We would like to respect their role in the discussion, particularly as the city’s open shelter,” says spokesperson Erik Salmi. 

Allen will look to reintroduce the bill next year, likely with a provision that allows for hedgehog adoption but not sales, according to Salmi.

But HRA says they will oppose any measure to legalize the mammals at all, fearing its shelters will be faced with an onslaught of unwanted hedgehogs.

“Most people lack the expertise and resources to provide the proper care for them, and often times they are sold in venues from people that are trying to take advantage of their cuteness. People purchase them on a whim without understanding what goes into their care,” says HRA spokesperson David Smith, noting that they are solitary, nocturnal creatures. “Often times, people surrender them or put them out into the wild, where they probably won’t survive, or keep them in inhumane circumstances.” 

Although hedgehogs are currently illegal, HRA sees them surrendered “from time to time,” according to Smith.

People like McCormick and Gerstein might know what they are getting themselves into, he says, but the animals are too often an “impulsef purchase.”

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania recently rejected a bill to legalize hedgehogs and sugar gliders, citing similar arguments. But hedgehogs are legal in most states, including Maryland and most of Virginia (notable exceptions include Prince William County, Falls Church, and Fairfax County, which is also currently in the midst of considering legislation to legalize them).

“In the vast majority of places, you can have a hedgehog,” McCormick pointed out earlier this year. “I’ve never really been able to figure out a good reason why people don’t like happiness and joy.” 

As to the question of care, she tells DCist via email that “the only unusual requirement I can think of is that hedgehog habitats need to be kept fairly warm (often with a heat lamp or a heating pad) to keep them healthy. However, this is also the case with some (perfectly legal) turtles. Other than that, they typically only require the same kinds of care (food, water, clean space, exercise) as small mammals.” 

But McCormick is still optimistic that it will happen in the end. “While I’m sad hedgehogs won’t be legal sooner, it’s very good to know that the legislation is going to be brought back to the Council,” she says. “If a few more hoops have to be jumped through first, that’s a small price to pay!”

This story has been updated with additional comment from McCormick and clarification about the legality of hedgehogs in Virginia.