05:27Pet rescue: Zwolle animal shelter takes in more than 400 guinea pigs
An animal shelter in Zwolle, in the northeastern Netherlands, houses more than 400 guinea pigs as seen in the footage filmed on Tuesday, February 14.
The huge number came from a woman who could not cope with them, and when some began to fall ill, she contacted the Flappus Foundation shelter.
"Right now, it's 417 and some have to still have to give birth and some other guinea pigs were going to other places but yeah, when you have that much guinea pigs you can't take very well care of it anymore," said Marnix Wieringa, an animal shelter worker.
"Some of them were ill, not taken care of, a lot of were pregnant so, the situation was that eventually in the nearby future there will become even more guinea pigs, so it was a situation that was not under control."
The guinea pigs are now being cared for and sterilised. Once all the animals are healthy, the foundation will look for people who want to adopt them.
“When we think like they're ready to adopt, we take pictures of them, and we get them on the site, and we try to find them a new place to stay," added Wieringa.
The facility regularly cares for hundreds of animals at any one time, with numbers rising to around 800 in the summer months.
05:27An animal shelter in Zwolle, in the northeastern Netherlands, houses more than 400 guinea pigs as seen in the footage filmed on Tuesday, February 14.
The huge number came from a woman who could not cope with them, and when some began to fall ill, she contacted the Flappus Foundation shelter.
"Right now, it's 417 and some have to still have to give birth and some other guinea pigs were going to other places but yeah, when you have that much guinea pigs you can't take very well care of it anymore," said Marnix Wieringa, an animal shelter worker.
"Some of them were ill, not taken care of, a lot of were pregnant so, the situation was that eventually in the nearby future there will become even more guinea pigs, so it was a situation that was not under control."
The guinea pigs are now being cared for and sterilised. Once all the animals are healthy, the foundation will look for people who want to adopt them.
“When we think like they're ready to adopt, we take pictures of them, and we get them on the site, and we try to find them a new place to stay," added Wieringa.
The facility regularly cares for hundreds of animals at any one time, with numbers rising to around 800 in the summer months.