{"id":40683,"date":"2022-09-29T06:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=40683"},"modified":"2022-09-29T06:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T10:01:00","slug":"guinea-pigs-safe-a_er-rescue-from-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2022\/09\/29\/guinea-pigs-safe-a_er-rescue-from-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"Guinea pigs safe after rescue from pond"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray<\/b><\/div>\n

Landmark Correspondent<\/i><\/p>\n

STERLING \u2014 A herd of adorable guinea pigs is being lovingly cared for at the Worcester Animal Rescue League after a harrowing experience at Leominster State Park earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Town Animal Control Officer Kelly Jones received a call Sept. 14 for mutual aid from the Princeton Fire Department for a water rescue at the state park. Wachusett Regional Dispatch had taken a call from two men fishing, who reported that several guinea pigs were in the water at Paradise Pond. Initial reports were that the animals could not be reached by boat.<\/p>\n

Jones responded from Holden, her two kayaks in tow, and requested backup from alternate Sterling ACO Emma Massa, who came from town with the ACO van and equipment. When Jones arrived at the pond, she was updated by fire personnel: 10 guinea pigs had been recovered after being caught along the shore, and had been placed in a box.<\/p>\n

Jones then contacted Tufts Small Animal Hospital to request that one of the guinea pigs be evaluated for injuries, which appeared to be bites from a larger animal, and the nine others be evaluated and checked for injuries or illness due to exposure. Jones and Massa transported the group to Tufts, where they all received evaluations. All but the one with bite injuries were released back to the ACOs. The bite victim was admitted to the hospital for further treatment<\/p>\n

The duo brought the animals back to the Sterling Police Department where they were held overnight while WARL made space for them.<\/p>\n

When asked how it makes her feel when something like this happens to innocent creatures, Jones said she has \u201cmixed emotions about these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI get angry that the animals were left alone in the elements without food or shelter, when they have no means of protecting themselves or fending for themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cI also feel compassion for the owners, as they were obviously in a situation where they needed help, but ultimately they took the wrong steps to handle their situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on to say that while she understands \u201cthat people get overwhelmed with pets, \u2026 it\u2019s not only unethical to dump an animal but it\u2019s also illegal,\u201d and that people need to follow the proper steps when surrendering an animal, no matter what the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be financial difficulties, reproduction, housing problems, or any other number of reasons why someone is no longer able or willing to care for their pet,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWhen this happens, they have a responsibility to take the right steps to get help. These steps include contacting a shelter or rescue to surrender the animal, contacting their Animal Control Officer for assistance, or even posting on Facebook for help. There are plenty of people online and sites and pages for rehoming animals. ACOs can facilitate adoptions and have resources to assist pet owner with financial costs of vaccinations, spays and neuters.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stressed that it is illegal not only to dump an animal but also to neglect an animal or fail to provide adequate shelter, food and water.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these things occur when an animal is dumped,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThese fall under MGL c272 s77 Cruelty to Animals, which is a felony in Massachusetts, and the punishment can be up to seven years in prison and $5,000 in fines for a first offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the dangers of people dumping and abandoning animals \u201cmost obviously\u201d is to the animals, but there are also other factors, and it breaks her heart to see situations like the one the guinea pigs found themselves in. \u201cThese animals rely on us to feed them, shelter and care for them,\u201d she said. \u201cThis can\u2019t be done when they are left alone. Most pets are prey animals, so they are susceptible to predators when left out like that. Another potential issue is the spread of diseases, and introducing nonnative species to local species in the wild can also\u00a0have negative and devastating effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said if she had to guess, chances are someone purchased two guinea pigs during COVID and were not aware that they had a male and a female.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started reproducing, which they do at a high rate, and before long, and they were overwhelmed with them,\u201d she said. \u201cGuinea pig pregnancy is only nine or 10 weeks long, and they can have anywhere from one to six pups (in each litter) and up to five litters a year. This matches up with the ages of the ones found. There were a few that were 2 to 3 weeks old, and a few that were 4 months old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the guinea pigs are all still at WARL, where the youngest ones will stay until they are old enough for adoption. The 4-month females will be held for two months to check for pregnancy, and the older males are being fostered and are available for adoption now.<\/p>\n

Jones posted an update to social media the day after the rescue that the guinea pig with the bite injuries had been treated and released from Tufts and was \u201cresting comfortably at SFD and will be reunited with the others tomorrow.\u201d She included that his wounds were not new and were already healing, and that he was being treated with antibiotics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beyond relieved that all survived their ordeal,\u201d she said. \u201cI can only hope that all end up in caring and loving homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who has any information regarding the ownership of these animals or who witnessed any activity at Paradise Pond related to the found guinea pigs is asked to contact ACO Kelly Jones at Sterling Police Department at 978-422-7331 or email animalcontrol@sterling- ma.gov. One final note: If you didn\u2019t know, 10 guinea pigs equal a herd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Landmark Correspondent STERLING \u2014 A herd of adorable guinea pigs is being lovingly cared for at the Worcester Animal Rescue League after a harrowing experience at Leominster State Park earlier this month. Town Animal Control Officer Kelly Jones received a call Sept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}