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A five-year-old female African hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) was referred for a one month growing oral mass. The hedgehog was quiet, alert and responsive, with a 1.00 × 1.50 cm ulcerated lesion on the mandible. The patient was staged with total body radiographs, hematological and biochemical analyses and the mass was biopsied under anesthesia. The excised tissue was reported to be a squamous cell carcinoma. At this time, due to the extension of the mass, a surgical excision was not a therapeutic option and the tumor was palliated with electrochemotherapy (ECT). Monthly sessions of ECT were performed using intra-lesional bleomycin injection followed by trains of biphasic electric pulses. The treatment was well tolerated and the patient remained in partial remission for five months until tumor progression. At that time the pet was euthanized. The ECT resulted in improved local control and should be considered as a possible adjuvant treatment in exotic pets with advanced tumors.

Coastal deciduous forests are one of the most threatened habitat types in the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, they are reduced to small isolated patches within a mosaic of cultivated or degraded land, and are limited only to protected areas, such as parks and reserves. In particular, hygrophilous lowland forests have become extremely rare and are also affected by groundwater sinking because of land reclamation and housing. The aims of the present work are to understand the role of some environmental factors in the composition and dynamics of the amphibian communities occurring in both permanent and temporary dewponds of a relevant protected area along the Tyrrhenian coast and to provide information useful for the management of these freshwater bodies.