Guinea Pigs at an Animal Park

Merab

Merab

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We went to Monk Park Animal Farm today having heard good things about it.
I don’t think I will be welcome again though as I was not impressed about them having guinea pigs there.
There was a very spacious enclosure in an animal shed surrounded by a low wall.
3 piggies were sat on the wall eating grass and being petted by children. Then it was time to feed the calves so everyone disappeared leaving 3 unattended guinea pigs on the wall.
I watched them and ended up putting one back into the pen.
There were lots of babies so so asked about separation of the boys and pointed out how quickly a sow can become pregnant.
Apparently the babies are sold.
I also commented about the lack of hay - they get hay at night. I said they required a constant supply of hay.
I refrained from saying anything about the baby rabbits in the pen.
I just don’t think that this was a suitable environment for guinea pigs and the staff, although lovely, seemed much more up on farm animals than piggies.

Sorry - needed to rant.
 
you could always try reporting them to the RSPCA especially for the lack of hay
 
I remember hearing about a petting farm on the radio a while back it was a local radio station. They were interviewing a child who was petting a piggie and the child said how lovely the guinea pig was cos it was nice a still and didn't move and how tame and friendly it must be. My immediate thought was "poor thing must be terrified!" I don't like petting zoos.
 
Poor little ones :( It frustrates me when places like this don't educate themselves in proper care!
 
I don't agree with keeping piggies at these types of places. I remember going to Stockley Farm when I was about 10 and them having guinea pigs there that were taken out of their hutch one at a time and passed around to all the children who wanted to hold them and they weren't even stroking them, just holding them. It bugged me that they weren't having proper sit down cuddles and an opportunity to get comfy and enjoy the attention. They may have changed now since it's been a good eight years since I last visited.
 
Emz1999 said:
I don't agree with keeping piggies at these types of places. I remember going to Stockley Farm when I was about 10 and them having guinea pigs there that were taken out of their hutch one at a time and passed around to all the children who wanted to hold them and they weren't even stroking them, just holding them. It bugged me that they weren't having proper sit down cuddles and an opportunity to get comfy and enjoy the attention.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what my problem is. I hate the way the piggies and other animals are just passed around the children. My niece is nearly 11 and she’s obsessed with my piggies but I have taught her how to be respectful of their needs and to understand when they don’t want to be handled
 
This morning I decided to phone to talk about my concerns but couldn’t get an answer so resorted to an email.
I felt I couldn’t just rant and not do anything constructive.
Waiting for a reply now.
Thanks for all your comments- I wanted to be sure I wasn’t being unreasonable.
 
That's so awful :(
I know a person who worked at a farm like this but she was extremely strict with the kids holding the pigs. They had only a few and she watched like a hawk. If the child was rough or squirming or seemed scared they weren't allowed to have the guinea pig. She taught them how to hold and stroke them and the piggies learnt to trust humans from her.

But sadly that is one of the rare exceptions. Most of these places are awful with the animals.

I hope they are stricter with how the piggies are looked after and kept an eye on.
 
That sounds awful, there is a community farm near us that has guinea pig and rabbit petting but its much better managed- each piggy or bunny has a maximum of 20 minutes and 10 kids interacting with them each day (weekends only) and every animal is brought round by an experienced handler for stroking and treat feeding before going back to their cage or hutch. Their piggies and bunnies seemed quite happy, but the place is run in association with a local college teaching animal care so is quite well managed for welfare.
 
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