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24 Guinea Pigs surrendered to ACS Brisbane Shelter

On the 7th March 2008 ACS received a call from a member of the public asking if they could surrender their guinea pigs to ACS. ACS Founder ' Jessica ' found an add in the paper almost 2 weeks prior for a garage sale which included guinea pigs. It is not uncommon for ACS to check out giveaway ads in the local papers as we've found in the past that guinea pigs are often being given away unwell or in inappropriate enclosures or in mixed sexes so we do our bit to enquire where we can in the case that a giveaway ad may be one of these situations. Following intuition Jessica enquired to ask if the guinea pigs were still available...little did she know their would be more than 20 guinea pigs soon to need new homes. After being told that the guinea pigs would be going to a pet shop if they were not re-homed by a certain date Jessica mentioned ACS and posed the offer to take on the guinea pigs rather than them ending up in a petshop where their new homes would not necessarily be well screened. Also knowing that the males and females were mixed she hoped the family would would opt to surrender rather than to pet shop the guinea pigs. Jessica was also told that the guinea pigs had been given free range of the family property and that their were babies and adults available and knowing this did create a concern for the animals due to being involved with similar surrender situations in the past. Jessica held on to the hope that the family would ring back and offer to surrender the guinea pigs to ACS.

Thankfully on March the 7th the family rung ACS and asked if the guinea pigs could be picked up immediately as a situation had called for them to be gone ASAP. Within the hour Jessica arranged for another family member to pick up all the guinea pigs.

The 24 guinea pigs soon arrived at ACS Brisbane shelter and Jessica was left to stand in awe as she looked at the very poor state many of the guinea pigs were in. All the guinea pigs were quite underweight with boney sows hunching over babies uncomfortably as they fed them. Some of the guinea pigs were suffering from obvious minor fungal infections to the ears while others were suffering from minor mange mite infestation. Then their was one particular sow that just brought Jessica to tears. She was hunching over her babies in poor condition and had extreme inflammation of both her front feet and an infection to both. The feet were bleeding and purple and four times the size they should be. A good half of the guinea pigs were not easy to handle. After a head count their were 16 sows and 8 boars surrendered to the shelter.

With the sun due to set within an hour and a half Jessica quickly rushed around setting up comfortable enclosures layered with vegetables, grass, hay and grain mix. As per standard procedure Jessica then proceeded to sex all the pigs, administer revolution to all guinea pigs for mite treatment and treat the fungal conditions/wounds some of the guinea pigs had. As per routine all of the guinea pigs were then individually photographed and then all were taken to their new enclosures. The sow with the severe infection and inflammation to her feet will be seeking veterinary attention asap if she doesn't respond to antibiotics and treatment for her wounds at the shelter.

We do appreciate the family for choosing to surrender their guinea pigs to us as without their permission many of the guinea pigs that were surrendered would have an uncertain future. We believe this surrender is a perfect example of why in general ACS do not support the selling of animals in pet shops or the purchasing of animals from pet shops. When animals are sold to pet shops members of the public will see the animals presented generally in satisfactory conditions, although many people are unaware of the history of the animals they are purchasing. In this particular case some members of the public would have been sold very unwell guinea pigs or pregnant guinea pigs. How animals are presented in a pet shop is not always a reflection on how they are kept behind the scenes where they are bred. This surrender is an example of how some breeders keep their animals. The original family of these guinea pigs were going to supply the pet shops ( we cannot confirm whether they were or weren't doing so already ). ACS hope that this story is an eye opener to those that do support the purchasing of animals in pet shops. By freeing space by purchasing or is inevitably supporting breeders to keep breeding and supplying.

Below: Photos of the guinea pigs.