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Breeding Busting the Breeder

MommyOfMany

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Today, I went undercover as an idiotic potential guinea pig owner (I actually have 6 pigs, and have been on this website for a long time so I have the proper C&C cages and such) in a breeder's household one grade above me. I stuffed my hair in a hat and all, just to be safe. I first learned about this when my friend (let's call her Sally), who is in the same grade as this breeder (who we'll call Emma) began to look for a guinea pig to adopt (she already had one pig, and she wanted to find another to keep the first company). Emma said that she bred guinea pigs and had one sow who had gotten too old to breed and would give Sally the pig for free. Sally went over to Emma's house to pick her up and saw her setup, which was extremely horrifying. The pig now lives a happy and healthy life (besides possibly being pregnant, Sally is still trying to figure out if she was housed with boars or not-most likely, yes) with Sally, being socialized daily and fed a proper diet. Sally told me about the situation, and I decided something had to be done. One of Emma's pigs had recently had pups, and she posted pictures to FaceBook, where Sally saw them. We headed over to Emma's house, claiming I was thinking about purchasing a pig or two. I also tried to make it seem as if I had no prior knowledge of guinea pig care. Once we got to her house, somebody Emma lives with, who will be called Dotty, let us in. Emma was not at the house at the time, but Dotty still let us poke around the guinea pig room for about an hour. I asked her if I could take pictures because my mother wanted to see them, and she agreed. I took over 140 pictures and 2 videos. At one point, Dotty actually left us alone in the guinea pig room while she either got her rats or was talking with friends. Emma used to have over 40 guinea pigs, including her "personal pigs" who she shows and will not sell. Not too long ago, she sold off the majority of her pigs and is breeding them again. I believe these pigs are inbred, considering they all have variations of the same colors and patterns. I asked many dumb questions:
Q-"So how much room does one guinea pig need?" A-she pulls out a plastic tub, about 1.5 ft by 1 ft and says "Two could easily live in here"
Q-"Can rats and guinea pigs live together? A- She says "Oh yeah, but the guinea pigs can just get scared by them" and puts one of her rats in the cage with several guinea pigs. The guinea pigs freaked out and tried to run away.
Q-"So these pigs are just a day old? Why do they have all of this fur?" A- "I don't know, they're just weird and come out with fur. I'd rather breed rats, but if guinea pigs stayed this small I'd totally breed them."
Each pig had a metal ear tag on, except for the newborns. One of Dotty's rats had been attacked by a hairless rat, which she put up for adoption on CraigsList. She didn't get her rat veterinary care, despite him not being able to walk on his injured leg. She then adopted two more rats to replace her old one.
Pine shavings, which Dotty told me to get at the Tractor Supply Store, were very rough and undoubtedly not kiln-dried. The levels of ammonia were so high in that room I could smell it just from walking into the house. The room was a mess.
I feel I properly portrayed myself as a novice to the guinea pig world. While I was dying on the inside from the look of despair and fear on the faces of these poor guinea pigs, I acted bubbly, bouncing around the room and taking pictures while saying things like "Oh my god, they're so cute!!". I nearly puked when I said "I wish my mom would let me breed guinea pigs, but she would never go for it." *shudder*It just goes so far against everything I've preached and believe in. I almost broke down when I got out of that house.
I will try to go back to the house once she's bred more pigs to gather more convincing evidence for the ASPCA. I feel that will be a stronger case against Emma, paired with the fact that Dotty told me Emma doesn't have a license to breed and show, which is supposedly necessary for breeding. I'll have to look into it.
I don't know if I should make an album, post the pictures to this thread, or include a link to Google Picasa where the pictures are. Either way I want to show you them. Which do you guys think would work best? I will not go the bed without posting these.
My heart hurts for those pigs and I will do everything possible to get them out of this situation.
 
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Paula

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Unless there's a lot worse that you didn't write about, the ASPCA won't/can't really do anything about it. If the pigs have food and water and some basic level of cleanliness (way below what we here consider "basic level of cleanliness," btw) and the worst offense is that she's housing two species together and her breeding room has a high ammonia smell, there isn't much to complain about as far as most local animal organizations are concerned. They are overworked and overburdened and the things you're describing are more or less minor offenses in the face of some of the other things they see on any given day. Metal ear tags and pine shavings are not even a blip on the radar of most animal control organizations.

I really think your time might be better spent dropping the "undercover" act and helping to educate her - if you can't compel her to stop breeding, perhaps you can help her figure out a better care system, convince her to house the rats/pigs separately, etc.
 

MommyOfMany

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The thing is that, according to my friend, there are generally tons more pigs in each cage. She probably had around 16 or 17 pigs when I was there and had just sold a bunch of them, but had close to forty at full capacity. I cannot imagine how the smell must be when she has all of those pigs. That's is the main reason I want to wait and take more pictures later.
 

RubyRain

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My concern is your safety. You can never tell how people (kids and adults) will react if you "out" her and they could retaliate in a dangerous way. It might just be rudeness or name calling, but it could also be physical altercations or property damage. You just can't predict how people will react to these types of confrontations.

I think Paula is right, your best route may be trying to educate her. If she's not interested, it's best to continue to educate others and hope they don't perpetuate her breeding.
 

MommyOfMany

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I highly doubt she will even listen to what I have to say. She doesn't actually care about these pigs, besides making a profit (originally she priced them 50$ per pig, and dropped it down to 20$-25$) and has a horse she only cares about during showing season. I will not give up without at least trying. If the ASPCA doesn't care, I'll go to PETA. If neither of them can do anything, I'll talk to her. I cannot just leave these pigs- if she tries to attack me, I will go straight to the police.
 

Agrimony

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I highly doubt she will even listen to what I have to say. She doesn't actually care about these pigs, besides making a profit (originally she priced them 50$ per pig, and dropped it down to 20$-25$) and has a horse she only cares about during showing season. I will not give up without at least trying. If the ASPCA doesn't care, I'll go to PETA. If neither of them can do anything, I'll talk to her. I cannot just leave these pigs- if she tries to attack me, I will go straight to the police.

It would make way more sense if you try talking to her first. Approach it non confrontationaly, direct her to this website if you want, be very nice and polite. If she listens great, if not make your point clear you are not comfortable with how the animals live and you are going to try and do something about it. Making a third party get involved (which I doubt they will anyway) when you could at least try talking to her like an adult first is kind of pointless.
 

MommyOfMany

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If I speak to her first, she will know for sure it was me if the ASPCA actually does come. I would at least like to know if they would do anything first. I am almost certain she will not stop breeding. I live in a rural town where animals aren't highly regarded, or even thought to feel pain.
 

Agrimony

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Don't you think it is fair to first educate her and warn her of the repercussions first?
 

MommyOfMany

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I suppose, though I wasn't really considering what was fair, but what was best for the pigs. That seems to come up a lot for me, I've lost my patience.
 

Agrimony

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Understandable, I know you are upset, but I think that would also be best for the pigs. Obviously I can't dictate what you do but I think that would be wisest, as stated earlier in the thread this isn't the major cruelty most underfunded SPCA's deal with- they are least fed, out of the elements, etc. therefore I don't think you would get much of a reaction from them. It's unfortunate for sure :(
 

MommyOfMany

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I'll definitely take it into consideration, though it will be an incredibly awkward conversation. I guess I've forgotten what the "norm" is for cleanliness and cage sizes in animals are, according to society.
 

MommyOfMany

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I do feel that this whole license thing will help alot if I end up having to call ASPCA.
 

MommyOfMany

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Here are the pictures. This link should work. (broken link removed)
 

Cavy Treenie

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Those pictures are HORRENDOUS! If I were you I would get in touch with a guinea pig rescue close to you and see if they can do anything about it. Most guinea pig rescues in my area have done raids and undercover work by the dozens. They bust piggie mills and often spay and neuter the rescued guinea pigs.
 

MommyOfMany

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Thanks, it was terrible :(
 

Paula

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Here are the pictures. This link should work. (broken link removed)
They're sad, but they are FAR from the worst I've seen and they all have food, water, relatively clean cages and the conditions aren't terribly cramped. The "antisocial" pigs would be laughable -- I'm sorry -- to an animal control group. Beyond that, I can assure you that all my pigs, who are handled regularly and are generally comfortable with me reaching into the cage and petting them or picking them up, would act very similar to the pigs in the video. Acquainting a pig with a person's touch and helping them to be more "social" and accustomed to human interaction is not a requirement for any animal control organization.

The animals aren't emaciated, none are injured (I didn't see an injury on the injured rat photo).

It just seems to me that if you've got the energy and the will to go in and do an undercover "sting" operation, taking photos and videos, there's shouldn't be anything preventing you from talking to her to help improve her conditions, at the very least. She's a kid, I presume, and I suppose you might be also. Talk to your mom/dad and see what suggestions they have.

Show the photos to the local animal control organization. It's exceedingly unlikely they'll be willing to do anything at all, so I encourage you to spend your time in productive endeavors that might actually result in this girl making some changes. Basic person-to-person communication, when done in a non-confrontational way, can be the most effective way to affect change in situations where a person just might not realize she's doing anything wrong.
 

MommyOfMany

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Her hand was covering the rat's foot. I'll try that.
 

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So, here's an angle that might be more effective in the long run (IF you are up for it). I would stay "undercover" and play up the breeder/showing angle. I would find out:

a) the specific shows she 'shows' at
b) other breeders she hangs out with -- it's a social club kind of thing
c) does she sell her pets to any local pet stores, OR at shows, OR to other breeders, OR to distributors. Get names and details.
d) a fun one: Does she consider herself a "responsible breeder?" They all do, but I would ask her specifically and then ask her what that means to her. Take good notes.

Then, based on what you find out, follow the chain. Be a detective. Document. Photograph. Video.

They key is to bust the myths that happen downstream and knowing what really happens later.

A good goal is to embarrass the breeder community with the "caliber" of their ranks. Expose the big picture to more and more people so that they understand what they are supporting when they "buy" a pig.
 

MochaAndMoo

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Poor little piggies :(! They look so sad, most piggies have that bubbly, happy look in their eyes, they just look frightened an scared.
 

MommyOfMany

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@ CavySpirit Thanks! That was sort of what I was trying to do in the first place, I'll have my friend keep me updated on her pigs and we can go over again. From what I know, she'll let us in as long as I want to buy a pig.
 
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