Apologies if you get this twice, but the first version didn’t work, possibly because it had a link as well as was slightly edited.
Hi lamkelliee
Personally I think you are right to be concerned. Whatever these videos are for, it’s the welfare of the hedgehog that should always come first. Using a bright torch to film hedgehogs sounds to me not only unethical, but also possibly illegal. They are not going to get natural images of a hedgehog in such circumstances.
If they want to film hedgehogs they should be using an infrared camera – as found in camera traps. A red torch light is possibly an improvement on white light, but if a light is shone at a hedgehog it is not going to behave normally. It is more likely to be dazzled by the light. And why are they following the poor hedgehogs around shining torches at them anyway. They should get static camera traps so that the hedgehog has the choice whether to go past it or not. People get some amazing images of hedgehogs from camera traps – and of the hedgehogs behaving in a natural manner.
I think your best bet is to persuade people to get camera traps and to stop stressing the poor hedgehogs by chasing them around with torches.
There is some information about camera traps in this link. The competition has finished, but there is other useful information. https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/hadcompetition/
Good luck
