2014 Review

2014 saw lots of guinea pigs rescued from the Melton auctions, and taken to Avalon to start a new life. Whilst many are still at Avalon waiting for their ‘forever home’, they are no longer suffering by being over-bred or being treated as sales items rather than pets.

I want to share with you some of the stories of the guinea pigs, which highlight the cruelty which they are subjected to at these auctions, and in their lives before coming to auction.

1-2 year old sow - She'd been in a dealer's crate for days on end with little food or water, and covered in urine. She had massively overgrown nails so couldn't walk properly. Her fur is white, but when she arrived at Avalon she was filthy brown. She was underweight and her bones could be felt sticking out. Her fur was patchy with sore skin underneath, further irritated by being covered in urine. Before being sold at auction, she would've produced several litters of puppies despite still being only 1 or 2 years old.

Young sow - sadly what is called a 'lethal' guinea pig, which means she is likely both blind and deaf, due to a genetics problem with the way that she was bred.

Young boar - arrived at Avalon with bumble foot, a painful and nasty looking condition on his feet, making walking almost impossible. He was minimum bid, without reserve. He was very scruffy, hiding away his beautiful coat. 

Sow - was at the auction with a reserve price due to her having a poorly eye. Looked very depressed to be there, desperately needing a loving new home. 

Long haired boar – came from auction with a massive and uncomfortable fur ball at his rear

2 pigs in pens at the auction, looking depressed

4 month old sow - was rescued from the auctions, tragically delivered 2 dead babies, then died herself

Poor little piggie at the auction was terrified, cold and wet, with skin burning from the urine burns and had a leg swollen to about 6 times more then it should, dripping with puss. This turned out to be septic arthritis, which is extremely painful for the guinea. His life was saved by Avalon and he now has a loving home.

Little boar - with poison leaking out of his eye, all down his front. Avalon gave him a bath, but he has lots of holes around his eyes and constantly has a wet chin/chest. He’s around 3-4 weeks old and he stunk of infection before his bath.

2 mums and their 1/2 day old babies were up for auction. Guinea pigs this young should not be in a market situation, they need to be left alone to bond with their mother and receive all the food, warmth, water and cleaning up after that they need.

3-4 month old heavily pregnant sow - when she arrived at Avalon, she was put in a hutch with other mums and babies, to give her the best chance of coping with her situation.

2 pregnant sows - a fierce bidding war took place to ensure that these guinea pigs could be rescued by Avalon. Being at auction is completely out the comfort zone for a guinea pig, and it was obvious that these 2 were distressed. One of the pigs threw herself into the water bowl as soon as soon as the pen was opened, which was worrying behaviour. 

Avalon will continue to have a presence at the Melton Auctions during 2015, so that we can continue to minimize the mistreatment that these lovable animals are being subjected to.

November 2014

Avalon had a massive influx of guinea pigs back in November when a breeding farm sent a lot of their unwanted pigs to the auctions. Whilst they would have been looked after OK at breeders, as soon as they are in transit, their quality of life will start to deteriorate. On this occasion, they have probably been squashed up in the pens together, risking suffocation, for a week before they went to auction, and purchased by Avalon. The original dealer is not known for mistreatment, so it would have just been the week leading up to the auction when the pigs were living in foul conditions, but this is still a week too long. A few weeks later, Avalon managed to collect more unwanted pigs directly from the dealer to avoid the horrible auctions, so that was a great success.

23rd September 2014

I arrived at Avalon with over 30 pigs yesterday. Most were boars that didn't receive a bid and had no reserve. I know so many people whinge about buying from auctions but you come with me one week and explain how we should leave them. One chap sat in his pen eating the grotty straw they were bedded down on. We got him into a cage and he just quietly sat at the food bowl, I bet he thought his dreams had come true, he was starving. Literally. About 8 of them in the same run of pens, same seller, are bone thin, with muscle wastage on their hind quarters and so bloody miserable. They get another chance, even though it costs to remove them from the market and it costs more money to get them up to weight. 5 pens had sow/boar combinations, although sold as 'unsexed'. Those sows will have to be watched for obvious reasons. One trio of boys included a very very tiny ginger and white boy. He was about 3 weeks old I'd say, he has gone straight in with a group of mums and babies and went into the group and nuzzled in immediately. Yes, removing these animals costs the rescue money. But it is worth it to give them a better quality of life.

22nd April 2014

There were big crowds again today. I failed completely at the first hurdle when I realised my pad/pen/bidding card were not in the car! A little perseverance and half hour later I was sorted though. There were quite a few pens of pigs, around 20. A friend pointed out that one of the cages contained a mum and young babies, and another had a couple of very tiny babies with her. As you all know, I'm not in favour of buying animals that are getting bids from decent looking people, but in this case there was no way I was going home without those very young babies. There was one such pen, which turned out to contain semi adult sow with two babies that didn't appear to be hers, and should really have still been with their mum. They cost me just shy of £15. 

The other, a mum, two tiny sow babies that are perhaps a week old, and a heavily pregnant sow as well, set me back £25. Having handed them over to Avalon, I am sure we did the right thing, even if it meant a good bit of cash disappearing. It's not right that a sow so close to delivering should have to go though the market experience. 
Also coming home to the rescue today were three mixed age sows, and a handful of boys, some crested and some long haired. I was horrified to find the amount added up to over £60 once the commission was paid, but I stand by the decision to get each and every one of these animals. I would have paid that alone to bring those two black and white babies home, they were terrified. I know they will get the best of treatment at Avalon, and they will have a promising future.

15th April 2014

There were about 25 pens of pigs today, and lots more of rabbits. There was nothing pitifully young, old or ill looking, although a couple of pigs had visible fungal infections in their fur. But with it being the school holidays, buying on a day like this is a lottery; once a family has decided that is the pig for them, you don't have a chance! But I'm only there to 'pick up the pieces' as they say so as long as everything sold. I came away with 4 pigs, an adult boy, a young sow who is of rex type, and two tiny boys who are actually extremely gobby! All seem fit and well, I didn't get the cage I was after, two miserable pigs with fungal infections, they had a reserve on and it wasn't my 'friendly' auctioneer who would help me buy unsold animals.

8th April 2014

It’s the school holidays again, so plenty of people about and loads of pens full of guinea pigs and rabbits. The first 11 cages had big guinea pigs in, a couple had two. I figured most would be boars and they were indeed. There were about 30 pens of pigs in total, some from the usual dealer. None were badly under age or ill looking so things were good in that department! I ended up getting an older boar with a mullet, a rex type with 'come get me' eyes, two small boys, one looks to have a touch of fungal on his crest, a pink eyed rex type sow and a grey agouti/white girl. As usual there will be a risk of these two being pregnant as their history is unknown. Good business for the auction today, with only a couple of pens with big reserves on unsold. I would hope that most of the pigs that ended up as family pets today would have a good chance as they were strong, bright eyed and healthy looking. So a good day from a rescue's point of view!

1st April 2014

Well the auction pens are back round in their normal spot but there was nothing else normal today! A different auctioneer who not only insists on moving in ££'s instead of 50p's on the low animals, but he also insists on selling the pens in groups. Sometimes you are after the 3rd in the run and you find unless you win the bid on the boar three pens above you haven't got a hope as he gives the original buyer an option on them all. It doesn't matter so much to me as I just pick up what no one else wants, which today was a big fat zero. Even the dealer pens were fetching serious money. There were a lot of new people bidding, not one of the regular buyers, and the car park was packed too. On the plus side, although the dealer pens had some guinea pigs with small patches of fungal in their fur, they were generally in good condition. So luckily, there were no guinea pigs today that needed to head to Avalon.