On Reaching 500

I recently posted a news item on our main site about an important milestone that the rescue has reached.

After the dust settled from the arrival of guinea pigs from the Catskill Game Farm (see the other article I posted today), some from SPCA shelters in neighboring states, and a number of owner surrenders (some of which were surprise litters of babies from females who were not known to be pregnant when they were brought home from pet stores), we added up (again) the number of pigs that have come into the rescue.

We were surprised -- and then not so surprised, given the year we've had -- to find that we'd taken in Rescue Pig #500. When you think about it, it's an astonishing number. A rescue, barely 2-1/2 years old, rescuing 500 guinea pigs on a shoestring budget and a shoestring staff. What else is astonishing is that just 8 months ago, we reached the 400-rescued milestone.

Think about that.

100 guinea pigs in 8 months.

500 guinea pigs in 2-1/2 years.

And people wonder why guinea pig rescues are needed. I know I don't want to think about what might have happened to those 500 guinea pigs if Cindy hadn't started the rescue in 2004. If all of our adopters hadn't found the rescue during the last couple of years.

With a continuing stream of owner surrenders, and more Catskill guinea pigs expected to arrive in Connecticut when they're strong enough to travel, I think we'll reach 600 soon enough.

We've got our work cut out for us. We hope we can count on your continued support -- we'll be needing it.