Wednesday, October 3, 2018
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Reefton’s Guinea pigs
Tai Evans tends to her guinea pigs.
by Claire Ward
A
woman in Reefton has some animals which are bound to become a tourist attraction and are already enjoyed and loved by many locals: guinea pigs. Tai Evans has transformed half of her large front yard into a free-range guinea pig pen. Ms Evans initially got three and put them in a proper cage but they soon expanded in numbers, so they were let loose in her
backyard. But this proved to be an unfortunate move as they became easy prey for falcons, wekas, rats, cats, and hawks. That is when Ms Evans decided to build the special predator proof run for them. The free run pen has plenty of shade and many specially built homes and other constructions for the pets to play on and be fed at. Along with the 30 guinea pigs in this pen, in the backyard there is a ‘maternity ward’ holding three nursing mothers with their
PICTURES: Claire Ward
10 babies, and a separate creche for when they’re old enough to leave their mums. Then, when the babies are big enough, they go out into the main front pen. “I find the guinea pigs more entertaining than television,” Ms Evans said. “They’re so funny to watch as they often do what’s called ‘popcorning”, jumping in the air without warning and even doing somersaults. And the sounds they can make — squealing for one. When it’s a full moon they can popcorn and squeal all night, it’s hilarious,” she said.
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Quite a few locals have discovered the Guinea pigs already, and have been throwing food scraps and garden greens into the pen which Ms Evans encourages. As they have gotten used to this, the guinea pigs will gallop full speed like a stampede to the front fence in anticipation of the scraps. They will even do the same if people just walk past, but then they will saunter off in disappointment. Continued on P3
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