Snowed in!

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.

Goodbye Polly and Grunt

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.

Bowzser’s extreme make over - home edition

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.  

Fairy Prions

Wow what a full on past few weeks it has been. 50 Dogs, 6 hens and 5 roosters we have brought up from CHCH to be re home here in Wellington. Most of the Dogs/puppies are in fantastic homes and the other few are in great foster homes waiting for a permanent home to come along. These are all very nice, special dogs that have been through so much, with all the earthquakes and saying goodbye to their families. Due to the earthquake damage lots of people are forced to move and cannot take their beloved dog. As you probably can imagine it is very difficult rehoming dogs in Christchurch and all of the animal shelters there are full. The first trip we brought back 24 dogs/pups with just the HUHA truck, second trip two weeks later we brought back 26 dogs/pups. On the second trip as well as the truck we loaded Vari and Taylor’s van. HUHA has now helped 120 CHCH animals find new homes. Check out our website or facebook page to see photos of our incredible CHCH dogs, remember we still have a few looking for the right home.   

The amount of support we have received is overwhelming. Thank you everyone for the emails, donations, and offers to help. We couldn’t have pulled it off without the support from the community.    

We have also managed to re home a flock of sheep to a very nice permanent home in Upper Hutt, fix some brush wood fencing that had come down near the monkey house, and rake the paths! The sanctuary is looking great (except for the mud).

Last weekend I picked up a very sick goat from someone who found her on the side of the road in Makara, she would have only been a couple of weeks old. She was very sick, couldn’t stand or eat, I had to syringe feed her. Sadly she didn’t make it; I had her for about 3 hours before she died.  
We have a new goat as of last Thursday. She is very bright and drinking milk very well and loves grass. I have named her Penelope Sweet Pea. She too would only be a few weeks old. Penelope is staying at my house for a little while. She has already worked out how to jump up onto my bed and she loves exploring in the garden tasting everything there is to offer.      

On top of the rehoming of CHCH dogs we have also rehomed a dog from the Levin animal control. He is a very relaxed calm dog that has found a fantastic new home. His name is Pete; he is a 14 month old Malta-doodle. Pete is very lucky, the day after we got him, he became very sick, and he came down with a very nasty bug. We had him on fluids and antibiotics. He is good as gold now and has even been desexed. He has settled into his new home very nicely.  

This sudden bad weather we have had and the tornado in Kapiti has cause a lot of Fairy Prions (sea birds) to wash up on shore exhausted. They are dying all along the Kapiti Coast. The wonderful community (including HUHA) worked together to rescue these poor little birds. They were taken to the very caring staff at the Waikanae SPCA to be crop feed and then later given out to places that can care for them. We were given just over 300 to care for. All of these birds needed to be crop fed a special mixture of food twice a day. It was a lot of work, once we finish the morning feed we have to start the evening feed more or less straight after. When we first heard about this Carolyn and I with our favourite photographer Jo Moore rushed out there. On the way to the Waikanae SPCA we stopped at Pukerua Bay and walked maybe 1km down the beach to see if there were any still alive. We must have walked past around 500 birds already dead and only found 2 still alive. It was absolutely devastating. The one I found died shortly after in my arms. The one Carolyn found was taken to the Waikanae SPCA for some intensive care. It really did break our hearts to see so many dead and others struggling. The weather yesterday was beautiful and the forecast for this week is good. Carolyn and I got a lift on the Kapiti Coast guard boat and released 199 that were waterproof and ready. It was great watching them fly and swim away. We still have another 20 back at the sanctuary that were too sick to be released just yet, as soon as they are waterproof we will take them back out and set them free.   

We are doing a movie night fundraiser. The movie is ‘Billy T Te Movie’. It is a preview screening on Wednesday the 17th August at 6.30pm, arrival from 6pm, at the Lighthouse cinema in Petone. Tickets $20, nibbles provided and there will be a great raffle on the night, for tickets please contact me on 021 032 0974 or 04 526 3630 or mclean.c.f@gmail.com.

Off to CHCH again

Carolyn and Jim head down to CHCH today in the truck. They are picking up dogs and puppies on Saturday morning and will be coming straight back, arriving Sunday morning. I am staying here to run the sanctuary and organise everything at this end. I will be checking out new homes and foster homes so the dogs/pups can go straight into their new families.    

In other news, one of our board members, Sam and her husband Wayne stayed up all night on Peka Peka beach guarding a young wayward Emperor Penguin from idiots. They even got together with the community to set up a roster so this penguin can holiday here safely, without getting chased with sticks!!! Hopefully he is only here for a short holiday before he returns to Antarctica.

Back at HUHA, we have planted more flaxes along the front boundary. I had to replant the ones I put in last week because either they were trampled or I didn’t do a very good job planting them the first time.... They are all looking good and planted correctly now. We still need more flaxes for the front boundary, I have only done one side (the shorter side) of the driveway.  

We have moved our rehabilitating seagull to the new aviary. He was living next door to Griz (who by the way is a very nice bunny with a lot of character). The seagull was there next to Griz to rest, now he is ready to practice flying in the bigger aviary. I have improved my bird perches in the new aviary, they now have more levels.

The Ute is getting repairs done, so we have been using the quad bike for feeding this past week. It is much slower but fun hooning up and down the driveway with Munchkin following behind. Yesterday I had Wilmar the pig and Weeone the donkey (who sneaked out when I had the gate open for just 2 seconds) following behind me, it was really nice. Despite all the fun hooning, I am looking forward to getting the Ute back, it makes feeding out much easier.  

We still have rescued cats, donkeys, cows and pigs looking for new homes. Remember to keep them in mind. They would make a lovely addition to your home.   

Help CHCH dogs

We just had a call from Dogwatch in CHCH they are overwhelmed with calls from people needing to rehome their dogs. There is no more room at the shelters and many families are choosing to put their pets to sleep. HUHA is committed to getting as many of these dogs as possible up to the North Island and into fantastic, safe new homes. If you are able to adopt or foster a pup or dog please contact us ASAP. We are also setting up food banks, if you are in a position to donate or set up a food bank that would be greatly appreciated.  
contact@huha.org.nz
04 526 3630 HUHA
027 441 6474 Carolyn or
021 032 0974 Cherie

Eva's Attic

We have started to plant flax plants around the boundary, kindly donated by one of our biggest supporters (my mum). They are already quite big and they shouldn’t take too long to grow huge. We have also planted more pittosporums but they are only little.

Sadly some of rehabilitating patients have died. One of the seagulls, our more pork and hedgehog. These animal come to us because they are wonky (sick or injured, sometimes both). Sometimes there just isn’t anything we can do.  

We have successfully released 2 Kereru and a seagull. We still have 1 Kereru and 1 seagull in our care. We took the seagull to Petone beach where he flew away.

Today I was driving down Taita Drive (very common street for animals to get run over) and saw a dog on the side of the road. I turned around because the side of a road is no place for a dog. He had been hit by a car! Someone who heard the bang did the right thing by calling the SPCA, the dog was in a very serious state I got Carolyn to cancel the SPCA inspector and I took him to the after hours vet clinic. He was an entire male pit bull with no collar or micro chip, just wearing a red scarf. He was very pale, couldn’t stand and his breathing was laboured. Despite our best efforts his condition worsened, he started coughing up a lot of blood, and screaming in pain. He was trying to die, we had no choice but to put him out of his misery. It was very sad but I was with him until the end. I hate that people don’t stop when they hit an animal, there is no excuse for it  

For those who don’t already know we get regular donations from Eva’s Attic. Eva’s Attic is a premuim pre loved clothing store in Wellington. It is fully manned by volunteers and all proceeds are donated to FIVE charities. Carolyn works there every Friday, I am the volunteer coordinator and we have another HUHA volunteer there on Wednesdays. We are always looking for more volunteers to help at Eva’s attic, let us know if you are interested 526 3630.