Once best associated with a speedy blue video game character, hedgehogs have become a trendy pet around the world. But lately the prickly creatures have been surfacing in tales of responsible and effective political activism at home and abroad.

Perhaps you’ve heard of 11-year-old Judson King of Corpus Christi Catholic School in Lawrence. Three years ago King longed for a pet hedgehog, only to have those hopes quashed when he learned Lawrence’s animal code banned the spiny mammals within city limits.

Rather than pout for a while before seeking solace in a Happy Meal, King asked his mom upon learning of the ban: “Then, how do we make them legal?” Three years later, after researching and compiling information about hedgehogs and writing to his city commissioners, King brought a speech and 14 pages of information. It was enough to wow men and women 50 years his senior who could actually see above the podium.

The ban’s overturn was given final approval on Dec. 30. King secured a tiny Christmas present that wouldn’t have been possible had he resigned himself to the law. Neither city officials nor anyone from the Lawrence Humane Society found any reason why hedgehogs should be banned.

In between applications for the International Hedgehog Olympic Games and YouTube videos of hedgehogs swimming upside down in bathtubs, a web search can pull up another tale involving hedgehog legislature. In 2006 the British Hedgehog Preservation Society forced McDonald’s to dole out an undisclosed yet massive amount of money on redesigning its McFlurry containers to be “hedgehog-friendly.” The animals — feral in Britain — were getting stuck in discarded containers while searching for food.

That’s McDonald’s — a multibillion-dollar corporation — being persuaded by an animal charity with a membership of 12,000. In what British newspaper The Independent called “one of the most genteel campaigns in conservation history,” hedgehog lovers were urged to write to McDonald’s respectfully, never writing any angry or threatening letters.

Obviously this responsible activism is not limited to matters concerning wildlife. Do you think the city’s ordinance requiring the snow its trucks plowed onto your sidewalk to be shoveled within 24 hours is absurd? Is political rhetoric not enough to alleviate concerns about rising taxes and where that money is going? Do something about it. Write the city. Bring a case before them. Resist the urge to wait for the government to come to the rescue.

Let us not be defined as a “What Have You Done for Me Lately” culture. We could all stand to follow one sixth-grader’s example.

— Montemayor is a Mission junior in journalism.