18th February 2014

No pictures this week i'm afraid. I ended up having no help at all, and with it being school holidays I knew I was going to be in trouble. The furries are still in the same area as the birds, and there was no way you could see into half of the pens as the crowd watching the bird bidding was too dense. I listed what I could though. Lots of rabbits, a run from the usual dealer, and some pigs from an unknown seller. Had a chat with the buyer known as Mr Shiny Shoes, as I thought he has grandchildren who help with the animals he buys, and his daughter helps and rehomes what is suitable. We were both down in the tat sale trying to buy run and hutches too! He's certainly not buying for bait, all good news.
Lots of bidders and buyers meant some of the dealers' lots went for silly prices.... one pair of baby sows went for £26! Last week they didn't get a bid I bought two beautiful satin baby sows cheaply and thought that would be it. Then a couple of pens held pigs, some of those it was impossible to see into (the bird auction was still going when the rabbits started...two lots of shouting in the same area. Chaos) I ended up with both lots, two ginger sows and a black very very funky boy.
I was ready to go and fetch the car down, then noticed the auctioneer had more paperwork, turned out there were more pens around the corner, and then even more in the old area the sales were previously held! Most of the buyers had moved off by then, so nothing was gaining bids. I followed the usual principle of buying guinea pigs that were not raising any bids at all. Tell me, those of you who feel buying is wrong, what do you think will happen to these animals? If they can't make £1 in the sales, are the sellers really going to take them home, care for them, ensure they have the correct diet and environment? Or just off load them anywhere they can so they don't lose more money. Abandon them there in the pens. Neck them. Harsh? It's the reality of life i'm afraid.
This way they have every possible chance to go on to live a good quality of life. You might think that donating £1 to the rescue will not help. It will help these guinea pigs enormously I can assure you. Please carry on helping us to help them.
I bought 9 lots, most had multiple pigs in, all for minimum bids. Boars and sows, mixed ages. Avalon don't 'choose' who to save, any that are in need will be welcomed.
Then even fewer buyers headed around the corner to the dozen or so pens stuck around there. Two had pigs in, one lot of two boars attracted a bid from another 'family' type buyer, I had the other pen.
So poor Shaz had to endure my arrival with boxes of pigs. Room was found, pigs were checked over and they were soon eating. I was also handed over 5 young boars from one of the dealers, a sweet chap with an eye issue and four other healthy boys that should be suitable for rehoming soon.
Again, sorry for the lack of photos, trying to do everything alone is a complete nightmare. If you can help in the future that would be great, most weeks it's easy but occasionally we get a manic one like that was. I do have a few friends I can call on, but unfortunately in this case I found out I would be alone too late to drag anyone in