Woman's shock after two guinea pigs multiply to 100 at Sittingbourne home
A guinea pig similar to
those found at the Sittingbourne home
A woman called the RSPCA and asked for help after her home
became overrun with guinea pigs.
Officers arrived at the Sittingbourne property, where they found
100 of the animals, all of which were well looked after and in good
condition.
Some were living loose inside the house while others were in
large, clean, outside hutches.
It’s understood the owner had started off with two of them but
the numbers had multiplied over the years as the animals hadn’t
been neutered or the sexes separated.
The creatures were aged between four years old and six months
old.
Sheppey RSPCA chairman Angela Walder said: “You couldn’t fault
the care or anything, some of them were living in very nice cages;
it was just a case of there was too many and she knew it had got
out of hand.
“She
was very embarrassed by it.
“People don’t seem to take on board the fact they breed at the
rate of knots.
“However, it’s not always the owner’s fault - sometimes the pet
shops don’t sex them properly.”
The RSPCA is slowly removing the furry critters from the home
and moving them to a centre in Brighton for re-homing.
Angela added: “We’re taking them off her in batches and will
eventually leave her with three or four. We can only take the
amount she is willing to part with.
“It’s good that we got in there while they were still being well
looked after though - she certainly called at the right time.
“I would like to urge people to be mindful when buying a pet and
that if you’re buying two animals to make sure they are sexed by a
vet.
“You’ll be surprised by the number of people who call the RSPCA
saying ‘I don’t want all these rabbits any more’ and it turns out
they thought they’d brought two girls but one ended up being a boy
and they had babies.”
15/01/13
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