Hi Everyone,
I run a guinea pig rescue in Pretoria, South Africa. I've been lurking on the forums for quite some time but really feel that I need some support of fellow piggy lovers at this time.
I started the rescue beginning of last year, there simply isn't such a thing in this country for guinea pigs and i felt that since I had the space, resources and passion for the fluffies that I owed it to them. Rescues have been rather "slow", guinea pigs are not particularly popular pets here, and they are greatly seen as "disposable" farm pets (I'm sure they are everywhere, though). People don't even bother looking for a rescue if they need to rehome them.
Any way, I adopted 4 girls to a lady last year, I met her through dog rescue circles, chatted with her for a long time regarding guinea pig care, did a home check and she signed an adoption agreement, that amongst other things stated that she would keep her guinea pigs housed indoors (it gets VERY hot) and she would not breed with them... On friday, nearly a year after I dropped them off with her I received an email from her stating that her landlord was throwing a hissy fit, the guinea pigs she adopted from me have "had a lot of babies" and have destroyed the garden and she doesn't know what to do with all of them.
I was so horrified, nothing like this has ever happened to me or any of my rescues, I was literally in tears so my husband had to call her. It turned out that there are now 20 guinea pigs, whom I have confiscated from her. I have been fortunate in that several of the friends I have made through the rescue are able to help me with fostering as my home limit is actually 15 and I already have 10 piggies with me. She had gotten a male, for who knows what reason, plonked them in her courtyard outside and allowed them to breed non-stop for nearly 6 months. The 4 original girls she got from me are so heavily pregnant I can see the babies kicking. They will stay with me at least until the babies are weaned.
The situation has been managed, but I am just seriously taken aback by how someone can be so stupid and irresponsible. Not only are the original mommies likely older than a year so the risk of their pregnancies are huge, but little baby girls who are hardly big enough to be weaned are likely pregnant as well >( and now we're sitting with a countless number of pigs needing homes as well!
So yeah, that's my story at the moment...
I run a guinea pig rescue in Pretoria, South Africa. I've been lurking on the forums for quite some time but really feel that I need some support of fellow piggy lovers at this time.
I started the rescue beginning of last year, there simply isn't such a thing in this country for guinea pigs and i felt that since I had the space, resources and passion for the fluffies that I owed it to them. Rescues have been rather "slow", guinea pigs are not particularly popular pets here, and they are greatly seen as "disposable" farm pets (I'm sure they are everywhere, though). People don't even bother looking for a rescue if they need to rehome them.
Any way, I adopted 4 girls to a lady last year, I met her through dog rescue circles, chatted with her for a long time regarding guinea pig care, did a home check and she signed an adoption agreement, that amongst other things stated that she would keep her guinea pigs housed indoors (it gets VERY hot) and she would not breed with them... On friday, nearly a year after I dropped them off with her I received an email from her stating that her landlord was throwing a hissy fit, the guinea pigs she adopted from me have "had a lot of babies" and have destroyed the garden and she doesn't know what to do with all of them.
I was so horrified, nothing like this has ever happened to me or any of my rescues, I was literally in tears so my husband had to call her. It turned out that there are now 20 guinea pigs, whom I have confiscated from her. I have been fortunate in that several of the friends I have made through the rescue are able to help me with fostering as my home limit is actually 15 and I already have 10 piggies with me. She had gotten a male, for who knows what reason, plonked them in her courtyard outside and allowed them to breed non-stop for nearly 6 months. The 4 original girls she got from me are so heavily pregnant I can see the babies kicking. They will stay with me at least until the babies are weaned.
The situation has been managed, but I am just seriously taken aback by how someone can be so stupid and irresponsible. Not only are the original mommies likely older than a year so the risk of their pregnancies are huge, but little baby girls who are hardly big enough to be weaned are likely pregnant as well >( and now we're sitting with a countless number of pigs needing homes as well!
So yeah, that's my story at the moment...