Who ate all the tasty slugs and beetles? Michelin the hugely inflated hedgehog was certainly a strong candidate.

But experts in Leatherhead discovered he had swelled to the size of a football because of a rare condition in which air from the lungs is trapped under the skin.

Luckily Sara Cowen, head veterinary nurse at the Wildlife Aid sanctuary, knew how to save her paunchy patient from a prickly end - she popped him with a scalpel then inserted a tube to let out the gas.

A spokesman said: "The air escaped with a loud 'phfwooooft' noise and within three hours he was back to his normal size."

"Michelin is recovering well but if you don't catch a ballooning hedgehog in time it will expand until it can no longer move and will then starve to death."

The snuffling insectivore, who was found curled up on a driveway in east Surrey, was put on a three-day course of antibiotics to heal his lungs.

Hedgehogs are prone to the condition, known as balloon syndrome, if their lungs are punctured, causing air to leak.

The centre in Randalls Road is having its next open day on Sunday, June 17. Go to WildlifeAid.com.