Our current rescue case ( another mass breeder )

[enchantingcavy]

Hi Guys,
I wasn't sure if I should post on it or not as it's quite extensive and I knew it'd be exhausting to write and would'nt know where to start but I've been dealing with a really bad rescue case the past month and it's still going it's been very stressful but I wanted to share the story. If a mod finds the post irrelevent to post here feel free to let me know...

Basically it all started where we found an ad that stated someone had heaps of guinea pigs to giveaway many colours/breeds etc...I noticed that I'd seen this person advertising for her " friend " in the past and thought it was about time i checked it out as it was getting a bit concerning...

Anyhow I arranged a time with another volunteer to go out to this womans house and we were shocked with what we found when we got their...it wasn't as bad as some other cases in regards to the condition of the animals but it was just as bad in other ways...

To cut a long story short basically we went out their and found approximately 100 guinea pigs with 90% of the sows heavily pregnant. The living conditions were pretty bad just very very old bomby cages on the ground and then an old aviary up the top of the yard where the pigs are walking on wire although the pigs themselves were quite healthy which was a surprise but good to see. Basically the woman just breeds and breeds then takes the babies down to the markets every week. Their were about 20 babies there when we went out. She reckons the adults are harder to sell. Umm any sick pigs she gets she just lets go in the bush basically.

To my surprise she told us something we wern't expecting it's almost
\" fate \" in itself that she chose to tell us. But basically she said she wanted all the guinea pigs gone before summer hits she didn't want them around anymore I mentioned I new someone that took in guinea pigs and told them about the setup and all ( ok I was talking about myself but naturally couldn't let on that that person was me at the time! ). Anyhow she told me she'd like me to get in contact with my friend as she'd be willing to have her take them all.

Basically to cut a long story short she takes babies and some adults to the markets every saturday she sells around 10-12 every week for only $2 each their and my guess is that they go as snake food as it's a very rural area and barely anyone around to purchase that many piggies!

The woman said she owns around 34 horses or something she does those horrible pony rides at the markets where kids ride the shetland ponies....

Here are some photos from the first visit to the place and before we started hearing further horror stories that went on at her place. We ended up taking two sows on our first visit one was pregnant and the other had mange and a tumour that needed to be removed asap. We've since raised money for her some wonderful people were in full support of Honey's cause through two ebay auctions we ran and she's had the tumour removed.
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Honey
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From this first visit we needed to create a plan. Basically we knew that reporting straight to our local RSPCA would've resulted in this woman just getting a warning as it was very borderline the actual case itself ( well not to us but to the rspca standards ) umm and yeah their ws no clear evidence to hand over to the rspca with what she does with the animals and we doubt she would tell them what she does with them....so yeah we started with a plan to try to get all the animals out of there.

We also needed to organise to HOUSE these pigs as my rescue for the piggies was at an all time high I already had just under 100 guinea pigs at the rescue currently.
So first thing was to create an enclosure this was the only area of space left up the back of our yard and we wanted to get the pigs saved within the week before they went to the markets next so within a week we transformed this with no funding at all:
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to this:
just myself and dad put it together:
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After we built the emergency enclosure one of the volunteers rung the woman and she agreed to let us take ALL the guinea pigs. She had underlying health problems herself and in her words " wanted them gone "

__________________________________________________ ____________

THE RESCUE

Well all was going to plan I met two friends/volunteers and we took of on our 2hr round trip drive to rescue the piggies. We had a heap of cardboard boxes filled with bedding and veg and we headed off in two cars.

On arriving I noticed the woman said in her first sentence " so are you coming to get some of the pigs or? "....right away i caught the word SOME and thought...oh no here we go has she changed her mind!!! Anyhow she started off in a very sus grumpy mood so we didnt say much we all played dumb sweet and innocent if anything. She took us down the back and told us all the guinea pigs were out of the cages!!! ....we spent the next half an hour catching guinea pigs that were running around cages and the grass while the woman tried to poke them with sticks to get them to move near us. As I picked up one boar she ripped him from my hands and said " oh hold on im not finished with him yet".... ....meaning she probably had more sows for him the poor boy was scruffy and worn.
Anyhow we tried to get pigs from other cages but then she told us she was keeping them for now and we were gobsmacked she had changed her mind!. Then another two cages of pigs she also wouldnt let us touch telling us that they were sold.....I asked where to....this HORRIFIED me and i mean horrified I am still upset right now that these animals are going to this home...they are apparently going to a home to run the floor of a chook/bird pen to clean up the " seed " that falls. I later on mentioned about mites and them coming from the birds and her reply was that it's inevitable that mites come in everything from hay to bedding etc and that all guinea pigs are bound to get them.
As we continued to pick pigs up she started talking about the noticable hair loss on many off them....telling us to use vaseline and glyerine to kill them ....these were INTERNAL mites ( mange ) the woman could not possibly be killing them with this treatment!

Anyhow really frustrated now we all kept giving each other looks wondering what to say we didn't want to leave with just " some " pigs as the situation would only end up back where it started within a few months and it'd be pointless...none of us spoke up though we honestly couldnt work out what to say this wasn't going as planned at all.

The woman now took us up the top to the other old filthy bomdy aviaries and cages where a heap of babies and mothers were to be found...She told us about her cages and how last summer during the storms she came home to find one of her \"cages\" filled with water and all the pigs in their had almost drowned if she'd been home only minutes later. I asked how the sow was doing that I had chosen and wanted to get on the first visit but she wouldnt let her go as she was pregnant at the time...and she replied that the dogs ate her!!! She also replied that they seem to eat them quite alot that the ones we got today were sure to be eaten soon had we not come!!!

By now I was fuming but again none of us could say much.
The woman finally handed me my other chosen baby sow who was luckily still alive AND PREGNANT only 6-7 weeks old and she's pregnant! We were still trying to think of things to say to get these pigs but just couldnt think of anything....in the end one of the volunteers convinced the woman to let just one more pig go she got a baby boy off her...basically the woman was trying to catch the pigs by poking them with a stick the entire time so in the end a volunteer had to literally CLIMB INTO the aviary on her stomach in order to stop the woman poking the pigs.
The woman continued and said she had to get going so she started packing the pigs into the car telling us we'd " taken a huge load off her hands " ( great!....we made more space for more mass breeding in other words!!! ).

Afterwards we stood in the carpark talking for ages on ideas on how to get these pigs....in the end one of the volunteers went and talked to the womans mother once the woman had left...offering to yet again take them off her hands as these people told us over and over again they arn't well and acannot care for them especially in summer...We offered $250 or a price the woman would want I'm not one to EVER offer money in rescue situations but we were desperate with this one...basically she had a long talk and the mother is now going to talk to the woman yet again....we don't know what the outcome will be at this stage but maybe a dollar sign will help.

I should mention that the one thing that shocked us the most that day was that only around HALF the guinea pigs were their this time we have no idea what happened to some of the pigs we saw last time but half were missing....im assuming eaten by the dogs I hate thinking about what they all went through their was barely a longhair in site all the longhairs ones were missing and half the agoutis.

Once back home we started going through all the pigs who had static mite, running lice infestations and all either had mange or were carrying it so they were all been dosed and treated with revolution on arrival.
MOST of the sows were pregnant we only managed to save 30 pigs that day they were all sows.
To make matters worse some sows have mammory gland tumours and a couple have more lumps ( tumours ) on them like honey did and we need to start raising more funds soon so we can have yet more tumours removed from these pigs.
One sow is in a pretty bad way she was bleeding form underneath and had mammory tumours.
Some longhairs had really bad filthy matting under their coats
Some pigs had conjunctivitis.
After bedding all the cages and settling the pigs in we all took photos of them.

This case is not over yet...we're not stopping until ALL pigs are safe and sound...so on we go...

Photos from the rescue day:
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A male she wouldn't let go of " good for breeding " grrr
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Sow with mammory tumours
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Pregnant and with a tumour on her back
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My baby girl saved
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My watch cat...she's actually a stray called puss puss that moved in around a year ago we have two " watch cats " literally they guard our house and the pigs they're like two watch dogs.
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Since taking these photos we had a massive storm we've been in a drought for months and I was shocked when it rained! We've installed emergency tarps around the enclosure and yeah it's alot more secure umm since taking these photos 3 of the rescue sows littered only a week and a half ago so we already have 7 new babies with more on the way.

We're currently still trying to get the rest of the pigs and we're not sure what to do...

Anyhow just wanted to share the story so far. We have around 140 guinea pigs at the rescue at the moment it's insane but to think these current rescues from the case would've been killed by the womans 6 dogs that morning had we not gone to get them all.

Jess

[Aertyn]

Oh Jess, what a horrible situation, when you contacted me I imagined it would be pretty bad but nothing like that.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that, and it must have been truly aggrevating to be around that women. Normally I would suggest contacting the RSPCA, especially since you have proof that they were being neglected (mammary tumours and such) but knowing what the Australian RSPCA is like, it probably wont get anywhere. It wouldn't hurt to contact them though.

[enchantingcavy]

Hey Aertyn,

yeah thanks so much for the offer to help with the grids I was so lucky to be able to find them locally ( for those that don't know I pm'd Aertyn in desperate need of grids she was going to send them interstate for me as we had none locally but luckily I found some just in the nick of time phew ).

Yeah this rescue is beating my brains out so to speak but umm yeah we're gonna ring the lady this week and see if she'll do a deal with us...if not It may just have to be reported to the rspca after all. I don't think they'll be able to do much as most of what we know about how much of a risk the lives of these animals in this case are has been " spoken " and not caught on camera or seen it's so frustrating plus we have the most sick animals here now

Jess

[WEAVER]

Jess, that is great that you were able to save the pigs that you did. I hope that the lady decides to surrender the others as well, but even if she decides to keep only two the cycle will eventually begin all over again I can not stand ignorance and that lady sounds like she is full of it.

Reporting her may help, just to have the authorities at her house may shake her up, but I have to agree that they more than likely will not find enough evidence to take the animals and press charges. The animals do have shelter and food and many times that is what they look like. Also with there hardly being any sick or injured animals that will work in her favor as well.

I am worried about you though as well, over 140 pigs is a lot for anyone to handle and be able to provide for. Than if you take on these other pigs as well what are you going to do? Do you have volunteers that help you take care of them?

The new enclosure you built outside is nice and I commend you and your dad for spending your own money to make and construct it, but in no means is it safe for the pigs to be housed in. While on this site I have heard of so many domesticated animals breaking down the cages to get to the pigs, never mind wild ones. C & C cages would never be able to withstand a wild hungry animal. Even though they have the carport covering them, they are still in the elements of the weather. When you were talking about it raining I was cringing thinking about how wet those animals and their cages must be with the cages being directly on the ground and the sides of the carport all open. Don't get me wrong, I commend what you are doing and I know your heart is in the right place, I am just wondering if you could possibly get more people to help you, maybe run a local fundraiser, find fosters, contact previous people that have adopted from you in the past, and see if any of those people maybe able to help provide these pigs with a more adequate, enclosed, indoor home.

[enchantingcavy]

Ahh to be honest when I made the post I did realise people would probably view the temporary enclosure and think predators and safety! I can assure you though the pigs are safe/dry and warm we live in a private/body corporate estate and road which is secure and their are very strict guidelines with regards to people and keeping their animals in their own yard so to speak it's also a wildlife friendly/protected road our biggest predators are the possums trying to nick any scrap of food lying around they can grrr. We've been here over 2 yrs and havn't seen one animal/predator lay foot on our yard bar a stray cat that our cat got rid of big time...ummm yeah basically I feel it's very safe and secure I wouldn't of risked it with them if I didn't feel it was safe enough and yeah I know you can look at the images and definitely see it's relatively open but again I guess you'd have to live here to know the area and that they are safe. With regards to weather rain was the only issue but yeah like i mentioned that's all solved now I bought several tarps that are now secured around the sides and it's alot more enclosed than in the original pictures. Wind...well we don't really get any again it's a bizarre location our yard is smack bang surrounded by forest and then two enormous water tanks that spread several hundred metres on both sides behind out land and they literally block the wind so it's really an ideal location for weather aswell.Umm mind you there's no way I'd keep pigs in their permanently I completely agree and am not making excuses it's in no way a permanent structure it's very very temporary I really want the pigs to be out of their within the next 4 weeks anyhow as summer is slowly approaching. Actually funny you bring the fundraiser up! We're doing exactly that umm one of the volunteers is currently working on it with me and we're also considering taking it to the media as yeah we need to lessen the numbers asap. Ummm apart from that yeah fortunately I have a really great local team of volunteers now who are just so passionate and supportive and they come over to help clean/help with transporting things/helping with fundraising ideas etc...
Feed/bedding wise I've never really had an issue I have our local produce 2minutes away and they deliver everything for me in bulk once a week it's mostly the physical drain when it comes to cleaning all these extra cages and filling water bottles is a mass effort at the moment aswell...
I've had alot of calls for people wanting to adopt lately and we had a few go last week but alot of people havn't been passing the adoption criteria mostly with cage size would you believe a good half have been wanting to house 2 pigs in cages around 85cm - 1m in length! Anyhow yeah...we're trying we're getting their....we just need to " get their " quicker atm so if anyone has any other great ideas on umm say fundraising/advertising feel free to suggest away!

Jess

[enchantingcavy]

Actually if someone has any ideas on how to raise a fair amount of money quickly this is what I'd really like to do...

I'd like to install 2 or 3 cabins " similar " style to to the one pictured in the link below but yeah again it's just raising that money. The area up their would be perfect it's completely levelled and flooring isn't an issue that's easily worked out.

eBay.au: Garden Shed / Cubby 2.4m x 2.4m by Custom Cubbies (item 200023373980 end time 12-Sep-06 21:07:02 AEST)

Any ideas would be great it's probably one of the reasons I wanted to do the post to try to get ideas on how to raise some money and fast...I guess the media is probably a good way to go right now but yeah other ideas would help aswell...
Jess

[Cavie Cove]

Im just speechless.
You and your "team" do so much and help out so many guineas. Well done!

I think it'll be a good idea to take it to the media, I know that when animal charities have done that near me they've always had help. In some cases they've asked for something and got too much of what they asked for.

[fourbwabbys]

That is just horrible. You are such a great person taking them in. As for getting the rest out of there, I would explian to her that if they are kept like this any longer, you would get the RSPCA involved. If that doesn't work, I agree with Cavie Cove, go to the media.

[WEAVER]

Ways to raise money . . .without a doubt the local media.

What about having a pignic for people that have adopted from you in the past--have them bring friends interested in pigs, contact other "pet people". A get together for all piggy lovers---you could invite through e-mails, the ones you do not have e-mails, you could call or mail out invites. You said that summer is approaching so the weather is nice, and not yet hot. You can conduct a outdoor fundraising pignic. You could even make it a pot luck and everyone brings a dish. A donation of $5.00 PER PIG brought to the pignic, to help the other pigs in need---you could call it "Pig Pals".
Before the pignic you could put index cards on all of the cages of the pigs in need of a home with their picture on the card. The people could walk around the "room" of pigs in need and decide what pig they want to sponser, they write their name on the card and the amount of their donation. Or they could name the pig for "X" amount of money and whoever bids the highest, names that pig.
Throughout the day you could have events for the guest pigs(make sure these contests are also mentioned on the invitation---maybe a piggy race, longest hair contest, pig with the most cowlicks contest, craziest hair, etc etc. For each contest they enter their piggy in it is a $3.00 entry fee or something like that.

You could have a piggy care gift basket for raffle that day, each ticket $1.00, they can buy as many tickets as they would like.

Just have it a fun piggy day, a educational day, but it really is allowing everyone to see first hand all of the pigs, and to get a "touch" of reality for the pigs in need. They could fill out adoption forms that day, but all of the people interested in adopting would have to come back within the next few days following the Pignic to conduct their adoption.

[jdomans]

Jess, how did you manage to take pics without her knowing? this is absolutely incredible.

[enchantingcavy]

HI Guys,

What about having a pignic for people that have adopted from you in the past

You wouldn't believe we're currently organising the very first Aussie pignic for the end of this month/early next month! There's alot going on here I tell ya it's insanity....trying to do 100 things at once thank you so much for all your ideas in regards to the pignic though as some I hadn't yet considered and they're fantastic! I'll let ya know how we go with this...

Getting Photos....to be honest it amazes me sometimes some of the photos I catch of these cases I really don't know how I get them either . I was just being ultra friendly and on the first visit well we were their for a little while and the woman said she had things to do could we get a move on basically...this gave me the perfect initiative to say something along the lines of " well would it be ok if we stayed down here for a short while and chose which piggies we'd like to take home then we can come up to the house and meet you their on our way out? "....with that she let us so the first visit was piece of cake photo was the woman gave us the opportunity literally. Umm the second trip yes she was their with us...again I was just being super friendly and mentioned I had friends that were interested in the pigs...to be honest though she did get quite sus the second time with me taking photos specifically of the cages and I had to stop hence why I didn't get more of the cages up the top which were really bad...was just getting to sus so I stopped. When you have people with you they can come up with " distractions " for you so that you're able to get photos with these sorts of cases aswell. We do it alot with the petshop ones I'll have a friend distract the person in charge.

Jess

[emoxrobot]

I commend you on the fact that you resisted strangling this woman. You have a great heart for doing this. I hope that this rescue will turn out well in the end. Keep up the good work and I support you in what you do.

[My 3 Sons]

Bless your hearts for rescueing those inocent creatures.

[Bellebelle]

Jess, you know how I feel about this case, you are an absolute ANGEL for taking these guys in, raising the money and putting together a shelter, when you still have so many other pigs.

Emma