On Saturday, August 9, 2008, from 1-3:30 p.m., Written Words Bookstore in Shelton, CT, is teaming up with Our Companions and The Critter Connection to talk about picking the right pet, where to find reliable information, and the wide array of resources available to you for Q&A about specific species and breeds.
The event kicks off with story time for the kids, featuring "The Perfect Pet," a book the whole family can relate to! Our Companions will then present on dog and cat adoption and ownership, followed by the The Critter Connection on adopting and owning small/exotic pets of the furry persuasion.
The human educators will be accompanied by kid-friendly furry ambassadors. In addition to Q&A opportunities with the presenters, there will be handouts, fact sheets, rescue lists, and book lists available for you to peruse and take home.
This time last year we reported the saga of a woodchuck who raided the rescue's vegetable garden and the aftermath of the destruction. The loss of some 50+ plants hit the rescue hard last summer, especially given the cost of lettuce in the grocery stores.
Last June, Cindy collected ideas from readers about how to deal with the woodchuck (which she's named Gertrude) if she came back this spring. Some of the folks who were reading last spring have e-mailed to ask what the plan is for this year.
This year, Cindy and William moved the garden further into the center of the backyard, away from the hedgerow that had given Gertrude a sense of security as she scuttled out into the garden. With the garden so far out in the yard, she'd have to come out into the open to dig and pillage for snacks...leaving her (and any babies she might have this year) vulnerable. They also buried the fence three feet into the ground all the way around.
We're hoping the strategy works and the garden will be able to produce enough vegetables to substantially reduce our grocery bills this summer. Medical bills this spring for some of the pigs we took in on abandonment cases just about drained the rescue's budget. As we enter the summer months -- which are typically slow for all rescues in terms of adoptions and donations -- we're deeply concerned about how we're going to make it until fall.
When Pig Notes was launched in May 2006, the motivations were straightforward. We wanted to talk about how to properly care for guinea pigs. We wanted to share some day-in-the-life snapshots of guinea pig rescue. We wanted to raise our visibility, on the Web and elsewhere. And we wanted to do it without tapping out the small group of volunteers we had. And we wanted to do it without taking money away from the rescue animals.
On a personal note, though, there are other reasons that keep me writing week after week.
Reason #1: Enthusiasm
Like a lot of people who own guinea pigs...er, who are owned by guinea pigs...I like talking about them. They're bright, enchanting little souls who add a lot to their homes. They talk to you in a unique vocabulary of squeaks and squeals. They have their own version of purring, which lets you know they're happy. They always greet you. They're not afraid to boss you when they want a snack. They like to cuddle with you. They like to play with you, and like to play with their friends even more. Despite the misconceptions about them, they each have very unique personalities and it's a lot of fun to watch them interact with each other and with the humans they enslave. Pig Notes gives me a chance to get some of that out of my system.
Reason #2: Sharing
I read a lot, and I like to share what I find with like-minded people. It's either blog, or fill up people's inboxes. This seems like a better, and more efficient, option.
Reason #3: Making Noise
I'd like to think I'm giving guinea pigs another voice. Dogs, cats, horses, wildlife -- they have all had armies of people fighting for them and telling their individual stories for decades. By comparison, small and exotic animals have only recently had people start fighting for them (I was happy to see this ad from Petfinder, which features a piggie). By sharing the stories of these little critters, by trying to educate pet owners, perhaps we can decrease the number of surrenders, abandonments, and neglect cases.
Reason #4: Documenting The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
I'd like to think I'm helping to document our times. Those of us working in animal rescue and welfare have an obligation to document the awful things that some humans do to animals. We also have an obligation to document the kind and compassionate and generous things that other humans do for animals. The former holds a bright light and mirror up to the ugly, dark corners of our civilization and forces them to be cleaned up, ensures that justice is meted out on behalf of the animals who share this planet with us. The latter showcases the best that human civilization is capable of, shows that we are making progress...even if we're not making it as fast as we'd like.
It all makes me think of a great quote from Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Concern for animals is a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done.
On Saturday, March 24, Karen Moulton of Secret Lake Dog Training is sponsoring an Adoption & Education Event at her facility in West Simsbury, Connecticut. The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m.
Karen has lined up a number of New England animal rescues, and dogs, cats, and exotics will all be represented. While rescue animals will be on site, visitors to the event are asked to leave their own pets at home. Karen is organizing the event not only to gain exposure for the rescues in our area, but also to give them a chance to help educate the public about responsible pet ownership.
You can find Secret Lake Dog Training at:
Farms Village Plaza 244 Farms Village Road West Simsbury, CT
This is the rescue pigs' first public appearance since early December (it's been too coooooooold to bring them out), so we hope you'll drop in and visit us!
When the Catskill Game Farm closed in October, many of its animals were put up for auction to the highest bidder.
With the farm's array of animals ranging from small exotics to
hoofstock to wildlife, animal rescue and sanctuary organizations loudly protested the jeopardy that the auction placed all the
animals in. Unable to reach an alternative agreement with the
farm's owner, a coalition quickly formed, raised money, and headed to New York State to save as
many animals as possible by outbidding everyone else.
Among the animals in jeopardy were 26 rabbits and 40 guinea pigs.
Using donated funds, coalition members successfully bid on these animals and got them out of harm's way. Rescues in New York and Michigan stepped up to take the rabbits, and The Critter Connection was scheduled to go that Sunday to get the guinea pigs and bring them to Connecticut.
Rescuers on-site that Saturday, however, realized they had to get the guinea pigs out that day. They told us:
[One of the volunteers] had discovered the guinea pigs in a hell hole. Many of them were skin and bones, had no water, only some pellets, and were saturated with their own urine. She said the stench was unbearable. [She] also discovered a second group of guinea pigs in a pit waiting to be live snake food.
Crawling around in all the filth, [she] was able to get many of them out. [She] took all of the pregnant females, Animal Nations took others. As guinea pig space had run out, and as [another volunteer] was there and on her way to Chenoa, she helped to gather up the guinea pigs as well. Seeing the urgent need for veterinary care, she volunteered to take 24 guinea pigs to Chenoa.
Because males and females were kept together in the same pen, all of the females either have been confirmed pregnant or are assumed to be so. Although all the guinea pigs were brought out of the farm
alive, nearly a dozen were so sick that they didn't survive the
emergency transport to a rescue/exotic vet who
volunteered to take in the pigs temporarily.
A week later, the Critter Connection took in 10 guinea pigs, including 7 new babies, and will bring the remaining pigs to
Connecticut when they are strong enough to travel. Once the pigs
are healthy, they will be put up for adoption.
While the guinea pigs are coming along in their rehabilitation, there are heartbreaking moments to be found in even the most routine activities. They all eat like they're afraid they'll never see food again. They all drink like they're afraid they'll never see water again. While we know they're on the road to better lives, it's devastating to think that anyone would neglect any animal to the extent that these guinea pigs had been.
When you have some time, check out the coalition's discussion board. The conversations that took place before, during, and after the auction and rescue effort -- as well as more recent discussions about some legislation up for review at the federal level -- is an encouraging testament to how many people are out there who are willing to rally and fight for the animals on this planet.
I treat myself to a Starbucks latte once in awhile, and have noticed lately that their take-out cups have quotes printed on them under the heading "The Way I See It". The cup I got this week had a quote on it that I think would resonate with anyone who owns (or has ever owned) a pet and spent time getting to know the uniqueness of their pet's personality and spirit.
The quote, from Jenny Daltry, who is identified as being a "herpetologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer," goes as follows:
If we valued the works of nature as much as the works and deeds of people, we would all be richer by far. Any ancient forest, polar bear or species of snake is more complex and improbable than Wi-Fi, the Mona Lisa or landing a man on the moon. What price would you pay to keep such treasures?
The more time I spend with animals, reading about animals, watching documentaries about animals, and listening to other people talk about the animals in their lives, the harder it becomes for anyone to disavow me of the belief that animals of all species -- even the smallest ones -- possess as much uniqueness of personality and spirit as any human, as much ability to communicate with each other in ways that we can't pick up on, and as much ability to communicate with us in their own way...if we'd just open our eyes and ears and pay attention.
This belief also makes it hard for me to understand why so many people treat animals -- domestic and wild -- as badly as they do. Animals have emotions and intelligence. Mothers mourn the loss of their young. Babies mourn the loss of their mothers and never develop as fully as they should, unless someone intervenes. Pets mourn the loss of their roommates when one dies, and show jealousy when a new pet (or a new child) abruptly arrives on the scene. A 10-year-old dog will feel sadness and confusion and fear when she's abandoned by the side of a highway, even by an owner that didn't treat her well to begin with. Guinea pigs will experience depression when the family that owned them for four years decides to give them up due to "lack of interest".
When rescue and shelter staff come together, they swap stories of success, tales of owners who came in every day in hopes that their lost dog had been found, anecdotes about owners who tearfully had to surrender pets due to circumstances beyond their control (and sometimes donating large amounts of money and/or supplies to help with their care or to help with general shelter needs). But they also collectively shake their heads over the way people abandon animals. Boxes of kittens left outside a shelter's door overnight. Rabbits left in a lobby by owners who artfully slipped in and out of the front door without staff ever seeing them. Ferrets let loose in fields. Birds let loose in the woods. Guinea pigs left in cardboard boxes in the cold behind a church. Owners unceremoniously dropping off -- dumping -- senior animals without an iota of visible sadness or regret and with comments like "I'm glad to be rid of it."
And so we're left with questions. How do we turn the tide? How do we re-educate the segment of the public that needs to learn to treat animals with compassion, respect, and humanity? How do we teach children to treat animals well in spite of whatever they may be witnessing the adults in their worlds say or do?
We're looking for suggestions, if you have them to share.
Would you leave your guinea pigs out in the rain? Recently, two Massachusetts teen-agers did precisely that when they decided they no longer wanted to "deal with" their guinea pigs.
As we were told by the woman who brought the guinea pigs to us -- a volunteer with a cat rescue in Connecticut -- the girls had been neglecting the guinea pigs for some time. Their elderly and sick grandmother had been trying to find a new home for them to no avail; the girls were evidently not only uninterested in taking care of the guinea pigs, they wouldn't take responsibility for finding them a new home...or at least taking them to a shelter. On the day that Jean visited this house with her significant other, the teen-agers had dealt with their "pet problem" by putting the cage outside under the back porch and leaving the two piggies out in the rain.
Although Jean and her boyfriend knew nothing about guinea pigs, they said they "could not stand idly by and watch these two little girls suffer at the hands of two uncaring teen-agers." These guardian angels took the guinea pigs from the home, cleaned the cage, bathed the little ones in warm water and baby shampoo, changed the cage bedding (the pigs had been kept on cedar!) and food, washed the scum from the water bottle, and did what they could to keep the guinea pigs safe and warm.
At the same time Jean contacted us to see if we could help with Madison and Maxie, she was working through her network of veterinarian and shelter contacts to try to find a home for the girls. While they're humble about what they pitched in and did, it's not an overstatement to say Jean and her partner likely made the difference between life and death for Madison and Maxie.
Madison and Maxie did come to the rescue for a while, and despite their ordeal, their spirits and their health are remarkably none the worse for wear. Only about 18 months old now, they'll live a long and happy life with whatever family is lucky enough to adopt them. In fact, as I was finishing writing this and getting ready to post it, I learned that Amy and her family adopted Madison and Maxie tonight. They were so excited over the arrival of their new family members that they've already taken pictures of the girls in their big new C&C cage and sent them to us. For the pigs, things turned out well in the end.
But, returning to the other two girls -- the teen-agers -- one blunt and grouchy question remains in my mind. On what plane of existence do you have to be living to think it's acceptable to leave a pet out in the rain?
This past weekend, the rescue took in several guinea pigs as part of a region-wide effort to save more than 100 guinea pigs from a desperate situation in Pennsylvania.
About the time the "piggie transport" was heading up the Eastern coastline to bring these poor souls to us, we received pictures of some of the guinea pigs immediately after they'd been seized by authorities, as well as the barn in which these animals had been forced to live.
What I saw in those photos made me physically ill.
Bugs could not live safely in this dilapidated, nearly windowless barn...never mind the guinea pigs that had been allowed to run free across the decrepit floor. But rather than passionately rant about the inhumanity of the situation, I'm simply going to let the pictures of the barn and the cages tell the story.
(Shown here: a food dish, a portion of the barn floor, a couple of cages, and a corner where guinea pigs ran free. Clicking on an image should open a slightly larger copy of it.)
All the guinea pigs rescued had to be treated for mites (and responded well to treatment). All of the females either were confirmed to be pregnant or are suspected to be pregnant (they were running free with unneutered males...pregnancy is inevitable). They were all malnourished and dehydrated and underweight.
The resilience of the guinea pigs now in our care is remarkable. For all the trauma they've been through, and for all the socialization they've been lacking, we see a lot of the trademark guinea pig spirit and spunk in their personalities. With love and proper care during their rehabilitation, they'll make wonderful additions to some homes out there.
This is why we do what we do. This is what your donations, your adoption fees, and your help with fostering allow us to do. We couldn't have come this far without you...and we'll continue to need your help because, sadly, this won't be the last abuse case we see.
...no domesticated animal should be abandoned on the street, in the woods, or anywhere else outside to fend for itself.
Summer is a bad time of year for animal abandonment. No species is immune, and I'm not sure whether any one species has it worse than the others.
A week ago, I walked into a local franchise of a regional pet store chain, looking for the latest copy of Pets Press. Two women were at the counter with a tropical-looking bird in a makeshift cage. They'd captured the bird in the woods behind their house, because it was clearly not indigenous to New England. I'm not sure what kind of bird it was, but Diane Lazicki at Lazicki's Bird House & Rescue would have been able to identify it on the spot.
Although this store sells exotic birds, none of the store employees could identify the bird and were combing through a notebook of illustrated fact sheets, trying to find a match. Exasperated with the store staff, the women picked up the bird and muttered that they were going to go elsewhere. They would put up flyers about the found bird, and figured that if they didn't find the owner, they'd keep the bird (they already have a couple birds). It's difficult to say whether the bird flew out of a house, or if he'd been abandoned. The pessimistic streak in me says he was abandoned.
About the same time, an abandoned dog entered our lives at The Critter Connection. Desperately skinny, losing hair, deaf as a post, she was found wandering by a road. She'd been neglected and then abandoned. A vet examination revealed she has Lyme Disease and heartworm, and there were a nervous few days while we waited for more lab tests to reveal whether some low blood counts were due to malnutrition and starvation, or kidney failure. The results indicated the former. She's been named Kia, and the changes seen in her just two weeks after arriving at Cindy's house are promising. The vet figures Kia is about 10 years old.
Her treatment for the Lyme Disease and the heartworm will be expensive, so we're starting a special fundraising drive just for her care. Donations can be mailed to us or made through the PayPal link on our site. However donations are made, please specify "Kia" on the check or in the PayPal transaction. Donations made for Kia will be used for Kia only. Donations made for the guinea pigs will, as always, be used only for their care.
We don't know how many years are left in Kia, but we'd like to make sure they're good ones. Any help in the form of donations or fostering will be greatly appreciated.
Some of this blog's readers posted great suggestions in response to the tale of the woodchuck(s) who pillaged the rescue's vegetable garden. The suggestions covered the spectrum of cost and labor options, and Cindy is mulling over all of them.
I also received some offline inquiries for an update on the saga, so here goes...
Surprisingly, the lettuce and the kale appear to be growing back. It would appear that Greedy Gus (or Greedy Gwen) and company didn't rip the plants out -- or, at least, didn't rip out all of the plants. It would be wonderful if even some of the 50 heads of lettuce could grow back, but only time is going to tell just how extensive the damage is. The parsley, tomatoes, celery, and red peppers -- which survived the initial devastation -- continue to remain untouched. Given the cost of red peppers in the grocery stores these days, being able to harvest our own for a little while will be a help.
Cindy and her husband have been working to get the remaining extra fence put in around the garden, but with all the rain we've been getting, this has not been an easy job to finish. They're hoping at least part of the upcoming holiday weekend will be sunny enough to allow them to get outside and finish the project. As for the plants that were eaten, they've decided not to replant this year.
In addition to the excellent suggestions put forth in your comments, Cindy is thinking that next year the garden will be moved to the center of the yard -- further away from the hedgerow that may have been providing the woodchuck with just enough of a sense of security that s/he felt safe scuttling out into the garden and eating. Greedy Gus (or Greedy Gwen) may not be so willing to dig and pillage out in the open.
We'll keep you posted on what she decides to do and, ultimately, how it works. Thanks for the suggestions, and keep 'em coming!
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