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Inspection turns rescue mission - 14 guinea pigs!

At the beginning of December 2007 ACS received a couple of reports from members of the public who were concerned for some guinea pigs located on a fruit farm which was open to the public. The farm was located near the Gold Coast. Upon inspection we realised this was a free admission animal farm where members of the public could walk in and out of. None of the area was supervised their were no animal attendents or supervision of the area. none of the animals ( not even the farm animals ) were in secure enclosures and each side of the property were roads and no secure fencing. We were at the farm for around an hour and a half speaking with the manager who said that animals particularly the guinea pigs were frequently stolen. We also discussed the breeding of the guinea pigs and management was actually happy that they would be breeding constantly since they got stolen so much. Management also believed that how the animals were being kept was appropriate stating that they had had guinea pigs for many many years and know how to properly care for them and initially they wouldn't budge from this conclusion. Regarding the guinea pigs their were 14 all up and they were found in the following conditions:

1 - no food - some water although due to the enclosures being in direct sun the water was extremely hot.
2 - in direct sun on an almost 40 degree day
3 - rusted old cages raised on thick wire bases which were also very hot from the sun
4 - no protection from the elements
5 - all the guinea pigs involved were dehydrated, some suffering from mange mite infestation, filthy and covered in mud, and crammed into a tiny wet and humid wooden box trying to hide from the heat.

We believe that some of the guinea pigs would have passed on from dehydration had we not visited. Some of the guinea pigs had only been brought in a day or so ago and they were already sitting in filth in a second small separate enclosure and would have been in similar conditions as the others had they remained on the property any longer. After speaking with the owner for quite sometime we managed to convince them to hand over all the guinea pigs since the farm was struggling and was unable to currently cater for their proper care. Apparently the guinea pigs were in the past kept in another enclosure with the other farm animals although upon the manager showing us the enclosure they were previously kept in I realised it was just as filthy, again not secure and had layers of muddy dirt they would have been running around on the base amongst other animal faeces. The farm is struggling financially and the animals are clearly being used as a people attraction and we are just glad that we were able to speak with management and leave some information leaflets and that they allowed us to take all the current guinea pigs without us having to take any further action.

When ACS Brisbane Shelter Manager 'Jessica' got home the guinea pigs were filthy, dehydrated and were scratching from the mite infestation. All the guinea pigs immediately had revolution applied, had a fungal wash and mite wash. Some of the guinea pigs had matts in their coats which had to be clipped off. All the males and females are now separated and in clean enclosures. All up their are 8 girls and 6 boys in total all female guinea pigs will need to remain at the shelter for some time as they may be pregnant. All of the guinea pigs will be available for adoption in the coming weeks/months and will be looking for extra special new homes where they will get the love and good care that they deserve.

Videos

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-7930393578913111388

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=84242608512421007

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=2910111200624601068

From what we know the farm was already currently being inspected by the RSPCA.