Our movie night was a few night ago. It was a lot of fun. We had a great turn out despite the bad weather. The movie was good and we put on really yummy nibbles. Thank you to every that came; I hope you had just as much fun as we did!
What incredible weather the country has had! The sanctuary was snowed in for a couple days. Carolyn and Jim had to get towed home by a snow plow after the first down pour of snow. The sanctuary had no power or water! The animals were all fine; they all had shelter, heaps of food and most important heaps of straw for warmth. Charlie the elder ex circus monkey, has a heat lamp in his house, of course with the power out he only had straw! Don’t worry Carolyn and Jim were up all night boiling snow for his hot water bottles!
The next day the snow was so deep Sophie the baby goat couldn’t go outside, the snow was too deep! Norm the big beautiful mastiff managed to cut his leg, it was a good cut too, went through 2 tendons and a vein! Carolyn and Jim had to take Norm on the quad bike to the main road where they had arrange for a 4wd and snow plow to meet them. Norm made it to the vets where they stitched him up straight away! He is good as gold now.
Everything is back to normal at the sanctuary, the snow is nearly all gone and everyone is looking fat and happy. We are still busy rehoming cats and dogs and rescuing donkeys. HUHA teamed up with Horsewatch to rescue a gorgeous donkey from a life a pain brought about by ignorance. Her hooves were grossly neglected and as a result she suffered with abscesses. She was listed on a trade me auction which means whoever won the auction could have her no questions asked! This new HUHA addition is a sweet girl who is now safe in a foster home and will be ready for a permanent home in no time.
This week 2 more pigs have been rehomed. Polly and Grunt have gone to a great home where they are getting a lot a tummy tickles and love. I am going to miss those two beautiful girls. They were great fun to have around here. Both Polly and Grunt love to tootle up the driveway with their friend Elvis, help me load the Ute with the daily feed and then tootle back down behind the Ute. They are very clever, I only just discovered last week that they will sit for an apple. Polly did it when I was loading the Ute with apples. The other day Polly was very busy running around gathering straw and bailage to make a comfortable bed for her and Grunt to spoon in. When she had finished and it was looking good enough for even me to sleep in she went and slept somewhere else. They are both real characters, I am very happy they have found a great home, they really do deserve it.
Sophie the baby goat is doing very well. She still follows me everywhere, she loves coming up with me to feed the monkeys. There is a big bank she loves to run up and down. Sophie also comes with me on the quad bike to feed Mabel and the other cows. I have been tucking her inside my jacket, however I am getting the impression she thinks she is big enough to stand on the back. I will try it tomorrow; see if she can handle my driving :-). Sophie is very cuddly and affectionate, whenever I am sitting down she is either trying to jump on my back or is sitting on my knee for cuddles.
Our elderly one winged Hawk, Steve, has passed away. We still have Steve’s 2 girlfriends rehabilitating in our care. One looks as though she might be ready to fly again soon, it is very exciting, I love when we get to set them free again.
We have a new Kereru and seagull rehabilitating. We picked them up from the Wellington Zoo. Both are eating very well and have settled in nicely.
That is all for this week, keep an eye out for next weeks blog.
We have had a couple of days of nice weather this week, so we quickly got the paint brush out. Bowzser’s house has now had a makeover. Okay it isn’t an extreme makeover, just freshly painted. Bowzser is one of our cats, she loves the outdoors. Her house is a cosy warm box attached to Carolyn and Jim’s house. It is in a great central location with a great view of the monkeys, in a quiet area. Bowzser is such a sweet cat; she loves to have a cuddle before she comes up with me to help feed the monkeys.
We also have a new piglet, in fact she came to us a couple of months back when she was lost. We were able to reunite her with her worried owners. However, she was surrendered to the Upper Hutt animal control last week and past on to us. She was back living with her old room mate, Griz (the bunny). She is very friendly, loves attention and of course very cute, she comes running over to us for a tummy tickle. She has gone into a fantastic new home with another KuneKune we helped rehome.
Sadly Penelope Sweet Pea pasted away last Friday night. We were very upset. Penelope loved tootling around the paddock eating grass and sleeping in the sun. When she came to us she had diarrhoea and a skin infection. The diarrhoea was much better and she was eating very well. It was a real surprise and I really was heart broken when Carolyn told me. Penelope was simply happy and content tootling around, she was very calm and well very sweet. I have buried her in a very nice spot on the way up to the monkey enclosure.
We have another baby goat, her name is Sophie. Sophie is great; she follows me around the sanctuary. Sophie even helped me clean out Jelly and Bean’s (the two giant bunnies) house and run the other day. She also helped plant more flax. Sophie is very much a playful baby goat, she loves to run, jump, frolick and get into things.
We have two more puppies looking for homes. They are gorgeous 16week old huntaway x heading dog. These two are not from Christchurch but just down the road from us. The previous owner refuses to get her dogs desexed, she thinks dogs won’t work as well if they are desexed. This is of course just an old wives tale and not true at all. Having a uterus does not affect the way a dog works. Not to mention they only have a lifestyle block not a large farm. We have offered to help get them desexed, even pay for it, as this is not the first time we have had to help rehome dogs in the past. The pups ending up with us because a member of the community saw a trademe auction saying the pups will be put to sleep unless someone takes them. The previous owner had a two week holiday booked and didn’t want to find care for the pups. The concerned member of the public stepped up, she took the pups told us about the trademe auction and asked for help. There is always ignorance out there, it is about educating people. Don’t worry we are still on the case trying to get the dogs desexed. They have kept a female pup so we will continue to work hard making sure the pup doesn’t have puppies herself.
It snowed at the sanctuary! We had 2 days of thick snow. It was so magical, to see photo’s check out our facebook page. The animals loved it. The horse were rolling in it, running and playing up and down the hills. The dogs were playing, face planting and rolling as well. Piggy Sue was trotting around with a big smile. The only 2 that weren’t coping were Munchkin and Mary Ann our beautiful goats. I set them up in a nice shelter with heaps of straw for warmth. The next day they were very happy, both came out the check out the snow. Munchkin even helped me feed out.
