Glenwood man Oscar Ridge reveals guinea pig rescue sanctuary horrors

A young animal sanctuary owner has revealed the confronting realities of an overburdened industry, including the moment 15 “tortured” guinea pigs were surrendered into his care. *Distressing content

A Glenwood guinea pig sanctuary owner has revealed the grim reality of the popular pet trade.

Oscar Ridge has been running a guinea pig sanctuary out of his Glenwood property between Gympie and Tiaro full time for six years.

Recently however, he’s been overrun with surrendered animals in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

In May 15 guinea pigs were surrendered into his care from a failed rescue centre.

His ideal capacity for the sanctuary is 50 guinea pigs, but he is now caring for 76.

“They have come from all sorts of different situations; some of them have been dumped, some of them have come from hoarding situations, some of them have come from pounds. They have come from anywhere and everywhere you could possibly think,” he told the Gympie Times.

“This young lady opened up a rescue but she wasn’t prepared and … it got too much for her. She got way too many (guinea pigs) within a couple of weeks.”

She then contacted Mr Ridge to surrender the animals into his care, but the situation he faced was confronting.

“She didn’t clean their cages, there were dead guinea pigs in the cages, there was rotting mouse carcasses … I picked up a cage and about 15 mice came flying out of the cage.

“They were literally trying to eat the guinea pigs alive … Those guinea pigs were being tortured.”

Rescue centres and sanctuaries across the country have been feeling the pressure after an influx of animals were surrendered after being adopted during the Covid lockdowns.

Oscar Ridge rescued 15 guinea pigs from a failed rescue centre, who were subject to “torture” in uncleaned cages overrun by mice. Photos: Facebook

As a result, these sanctuaries have been begging for pet owners to consider adopting the rescued animals; and spawned a growing number of good Samaritans attempting to alleviate the problem by opening their own sanctuaries.

“People are reading rescues posts saying we’re so over capacity, so they’re jumping onto the bandwagon thinking they can open up a rescue and it’s all fun and games,” he said.

“The amount of neglect situations we’re seeing has absolutely skyrocketed unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

“It’s gut-wrenching. We have to see the worst of the worst while they get to just palm them off.

“You just have to keep pushing through because every rescue in Queensland is way over capacity.”

Despite the growing pressures, Mr Ridge said watching the once neglected animals recover and find a loving home made it all worthwhile.

“You watch that guinea pig grow all of its fur back, and you watch the light come back into the eyes, and then you watch that guinea pig get rehomed and then you get updates and you get to see it be loved,” he said.

For anyone considering getting a guinea pig, Mr Ridge said his best advice was to research the animal before committing to it.