[DaCourt]

My daughter used to go into all the Petcos and Petsmarts in the area and kep a log on the cages, food, pigs, etc. She ended up turning it as a research project. Some of the stores tolerated her, others were pretty nice.

One of the ones that tolerated her got 8 new pigs in. We had not been there for about a month. She asked to talk to someone who worked with the small animals. She told the girl that she had at least 2 pregnant sows. The girl told her it was impossible since they had no males. So, my daughter told her she was wrong and pointed out the baby male in the cage. She then said, oh you are right. But he is too young to make babies. He is only about 2 months old. OH MY GOD!!! She pulled out her GL care sheets and told her to start reading.

The 2 sows that we knew were pregnant were due any day. You could see the babies moving. They were only about 4 months old. There were a few others that were pear shaped. We asked them to take the male out. The girl said she would let the manager know and then took her break. OMG!!! SO we told the manager and his response was, well, the damage is already done. OMG!!

We went back to the store a about 5 days later. Both sows had delivered. Both sows died. One had 3 babies - 1 died, the other had had 2 - one died. And the male was still in the cage. Courtney couldn't take it any more and caused a big scene. It was Saturday and a lot of people looking at pigs. SHe was totally crying, telling them they were responsible for the deaths of 4 guinea pigs. We were asked to leave.

Courtney turned in her report. She was then asked to give an oral presentation to the class. Then, asked to give a presentation for all the teachers. I think she cried every time.