Cecil and Cleo update

It is just a quick blog this week. I want to let you all know how well Cecil and Cleo are doing. They are walking very well and their wounds are also healing very nicely. They are even starting to regrow their feathers. They have lots of supervised outside time and Cecil gets to sleep inside. Cecil grew up inside so he loves it, whereas Cleo isn’t use to it and she prefers to be outside. Cecil likes to stand in the middle of the room with the dogs, and he is happy to put himself to bed at night time.  

All of our sponsors should have received their HUHA update and story about their sponsored animal. If you are a sponsor and you haven’t received anything yet, please let us know, we may have the wrong contact information for you.

We still have rescued cats looking for a new home, remember to keep them in mind if you are looking for a new addition to your family. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=377630532    

Munchkin Paints Pigs Sues house

Piggy Sue is very house proud. The roof of her shelter is looking good. The photo’s are of our gorgeous goat Munchkin, she really wanted to help. I didn’t get any photo’s of my other helper, Squeak. Squeak is a very clever magpie, she was a good help too, she liked to pick dried paint off my hands and arms. I ended up with green footprints all up my arms. Squeak’s best friend is Lilly, our very intelligent Chihuahua, they love to play together. I will try to record it next time I am there. They are about the same size, they roll around on the floor together, it is so cute.

We have put in more perches in our Hawk Steve’s enclosure, Steve wont use them because he only has one wing. His friends who are rehabilitating will hopefully use them. We have also put perches in our new aviary for when the Morepork is ready to move in. The Morepork isn’t flying and we are hand feeding him.

We have a new bunny, his name is Griz and we got him from a pet shop. He was too aggressive to be rehomed so he came to us. He has been neuter so hopefully that will calm him down. Aggression can also be environmental, it can’t be fun living in a small cage in a pet shop.

We have been trapping wild kittens. So far we have caught 4 kittens. They have been taken to the SPCA, I saw them yesterday, they are looking really good, they have put on weight and they are inquisitive. They are still only small cute balls of fluff, only about 8 weeks old, they will be socialised and rehomed. We are still trying to catch more kittens and cats to get them desexed.

I now have some every upsetting news. We had a visiting puppy, he was a pit bull terrier, about 5-6months old. Last Thursday he attacked 3 of our beloved muscovy ducks. Cecil, Cleo and Rover. Sadly Rover didn’t make it and we have had to bury him. Cecil and Cleo have large wounds, but with some intensive caring they will hopefully make a full recovery. We have them resting inside and they are on antibiotic’s and pain relief plus Carolyn has set up a therapeutic bath full of healing goodness.

The muscovy ducks would eat bread out of our hands, they are very friendly. Cecil had a couple of very special tricks, he would jump for bread and he likes to play fetch. Carolyn got Cecil when he was just a yellow fluffy baby. Duckling don’t have a very good survival rate when they are on there own, it is best to put them with other baby ducklings. At the time we didn’t have any ducklings so Cecil grew up with baby bunnies. Cecil did so well and he loved his bunnies, I have posted a photo of Cecil and his bunnies. I love this photo, it would make the perfect picture of an Easter card.

Busy week

Despite the bad weather we have had a productive week. We have planted trees in our new aviary. I am very excited that it is nearly ready to be used, we just need to make a flash new shelter and a flash new perch. We built a big new perch to go in with our hawks, it is really fun I can’t wait to make more tomorrow. We have prepared the roof of Piggy Sue's shelter so that it can be painted as soon as the weather improves, hopefully tomorrow.

Three of our rescued cats have been rehomed so far. We still have more cats so if you know of anyone looking for a new addition to their family we have very special cats looking for the right home.

We picked up an injured Tui and Morepork. The Tui has been taken to the zoo for treatment. Once he is better we will rehabilitate him in our new aviary :-). The Morepork is doing better; he is now eating on his own.

Since having the HUHA truck we have quadrupled, the amount of fruit and veggies we get weekly. The animals are loving it! They are happy and fat ready for winter. Before the truck we were picking it all up on our horse float but there would be too much we would have to turn some away otherwise it would be unsafe driving the horse float back. We get heaps more green veggies which is great roughage plus we have just spent $3000 on baleage.

I am in the process of writing updates for our sponsored animals (they should be ready over the next week or two). If you aren’t familiar with our sponsorship program click here for more information.
All sponsors get a sponsorship pack with the story about their animal, an invitation to the sanctuary to visit the sponsored animal, sponsorship certificate and a photo of the animal. Throughout the year updates on what the sponsored animal has been doing is also provided.

RIP Tyke

I have some sad news, our ex farm dog Tyke needed to be put to sleep today. He went down hill fast and we had to act in his best interest. I am really upset; he was such a cuddly dog. I remember sitting in the courtyard with him and him giving me the biggest hug, taking him for rides on the quad bike and he loved coming out with us while we fed everyone. I am happy his last few months living at the sanctuary was good, he loved it.

OK time for some good news, Carolyn has managed to get Cransfields in Wellington to stop buying animal pelts. Carolyn explained how awful it is and wanted to meet with them to talk about it in person but they declined. Thanks to the huge amount of emails they received from our disgusted supporters they will not be restocking them. This shows that our actions do matter, and that with a bit of noise we can get action. Well done everyone, this is a small win but a WIN!

I have a puppy looking for a new home. She is a Labrador x Staffy, 1 year old, desexed, vaccination, micro chipped, great with kids and other pets. She is a very sweet dog that just wants to love you. She is from Christchurch I brought her back with me, in fact she is sitting next to me in my profile picture. I have a special bond with the dogs I brought back from Christchurch; they are wonderful dogs that deserve a great home. If you or someone you know are in the market for a new addition to your family please let us know 526 3630 or contact@huha.org.nz

I will take photos of our cats and kittens tomorrow and update our adoption page.