A New Zealand man charged with assaulting a teenage boy with a hedgehog threw the animal at him from about five metres away, the Herald newspaper has reported.
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," police sergeant Bruce Jenkins told the Herald on Sunday.
He said that William Singalargh, 27, of Whakatane was arrested shortly afterward on February 9, for assaulting the 15-year-old with a weapon - "namely the hedgehog."
It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time, but it was dead after the incident when it was collected as evidence, the paper said.
Singalargh's lawyer Rebecca Plunket told the paper that her client would deny the charge, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, when he reappears on April 17 in court.