NEVER underestimate the power of an animal story.

Last week, we reported on the story of 11-year-old Daisy West, who stepped in after seeing a group of teenage boys throwing stones at a hedgehog in Rooksdown.

The Fort Hill Community School pupil has a huge love for animals, and knew she had to do something when she saw the boys throwing stones, poking the hedgehog with sticks and attaching conkers to its spikes.

She took the baby hedgehog home and made a bed for it out of newspaper and a box, before calling a rescue centre.

Sadly the hedgehog died because it had internal parasites, but Daisy’s intervention stopped it from having a prolonged and painful death.

We put the story on the front page of last week’s paper, and it certainly provoked a strong response.

Thousands of people viewed it both online and in print, and many of the comments made by readers were supportive of Daisy and her actions.

The Happy Hedgehog Rescue Centre, which took in the hedgehog, said another person in Basingstoke has since been in touch having found another hedgehog that was in bad way.

In a separate incident, the reporter who wrote the story, Emily Roberts, knew what to do when she saw a hedgehog that had been kicked by a group of teenagers.

Following Daisy’s action, the rescue centre also plans to write to all schools in the Basingstoke area so that children will know what to do if they come across a hedgehog this autumn.

All this has stemmed from one girl’s actions. Well done Daisy!