Dedicated to rescuing the abused, unwanted & abandoned

About Us Continued...

HOW IT ALL BEGAN - By Val Savage - C.C.T. Guinea Pig Health Advisor

I had worked on the emergency services back in the 70's, The London Ambulance Service and various care homes amongst other vocations, so I suppose "caring" has been hanging around for decades. It was in one of those jobs back in 2003 when I overheard a colleague relaying how cruel her sisters children were to their guinea pigs, by dropping them from their hands onto the floor. Soon after, a family member decided to phone The Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary at Stelling Minnis, near Canterbury to see if we could adopt a guinea pig which was also to commemorate the anniversary of a close friends passing....."he would have liked that", I was told. The final crunch came when I was reading a notice in a vets waiting room...."Tortoise Rescue". All these events went into the melting pot and gave me the inspiration to open my own guinea pig sanctuary in January 2004, later to become the registered charity April Lodge Guinea Pig Rescue, at Sandwich, Kent.

Starting with around ten guinea pigs and now having seen 1000, the charity has come quite a way in the last seven years! We now have regular fund raising, organised by my loyal committee members and charity trustees, a comprehensive web site stacked with valuable information as well as a look at the lighter side of life with guinea pigs, an air-conditioned sanctuary with adjoining clinic and vast grazing area, non-surgical observation facilities, fostercarers, homeopathic unit, a fabulous Retirement Home, a priceless army of day-to-day volunteers, boarding facilities with free healthchecking, a guinea pig shop (proceeds to the charity), free post adoption healthchecking and an Annual Open Day. Looking forwards, there is talk of a separate veg-prepping area, outside toilet facilities and office. And our plans for the future? Top priority will always be to bring an end to the need for a guinea pig rescue centre such as ours...but in the meantime we will carry on caring and giving optimum support to new adopters and fostercarers.

The Future of April Lodge

Our intention is to bring an end to the pain and suffering inflicted on these innocent, vulnerable animals, to promote the licensing of breeding the species, to stop amphibian owners purchasing them to feed as live bait to their pets. To stop the use of guinea pigs in lab experiments for cosmetic products, to take out criminal proceedings against the person responsible for throwing plastic bags of live guinea pigs from trains throughout the south east and to promote veterinary training in this species... to give these animals justice.