How a rescue has helped hundreds of guinea pigs
By Megan Shinn
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PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — From the hay and the woodchips to the squeaks and the “wheeks,” Julene Robinson’s got a full house of rescue guinea pigs. She said people now know her as the guinea pig lady.
Robinson opened Wheek Care Guinea Pig Rescue and became the nonprofit’s executive director in 2017.
“I started getting people, ‘oh, you have a guinea pig, take mine, you have a guinea pig, take mine,'” said Robinson.
“It just kind of fell into place,” she said.
After someone gave her a guinea pig as a pet, she learned all she could.
“Once you get the pattern down to taking care of them, it’s a piece of cake,” she said.
Now she’s rescued over 200 just this year.
“They do mean a lot to me because they’ve been thrown away. They are discards,” she said.
These precious pets are discarded by people who can’t provide for them, don’t have the space, or changed their minds.
“We work a lot with the humane society across the United States,” said Robinson.
An estimated 1.5 million families in America own a guinea pig. They’re social pets with an average life span of five to eight years, but sometimes people abandon them or need some help tending to them.
Robinson said she gets them healthy at the vet, provides a safe space, nourishment and hopefully a new home. More than two dozen volunteers make caring for all the rescue pets possible.
“Just incredible, it adds so much joy to my life,” said volunteer Sarah Steranka.
It’s a labor of love that comes with responsibility and a drive to help hundreds of our smallest household pets find a forever home.
“Do your education, that’s the best thing that anybody can do,” Robinson told KDKA-TV anchor Megan Shinn.
She suggests people try to keep their guinea pigs housed if they can.
Before getting a guinea pig, she welcomes people to visit her nonprofit and learn from her. Robinson said she also suggests looking for a vet who treats exotic pets specifically. Wheek Care Guinea Pig Rescue will also help you find a vet or provide supplies if you’re going through an emergency.
The next event for Wheek Care Guinea Pig Rescue is set for Sept. 20th, at Deer Lakes Park on Bailey’s Run Road from noon to 4 p.m. It’s called a “pignic.” For details on the event and how to contact the nonprofit, visit their website.
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