Winter is Here!!

The rain is here, but luckily down on the farm is warm and dry thanks to our new shelters. They are awesome I love to lie under them, and I don't even mind the rain so much.

They are especially great for the goats, who need really good shelter. They hate the rain and don't have a protective coat, so need good shelter to stay warm and dry.

We have had heaps of farm animals in lately, a couple of pigs, sheep, goats, horses, plenty of roosters and even some white pigeons. If you know of anyone who might be keen to adopt them, please refer to our website http://www.spca.org.nz/

Here is a little snippet of a wee piglet, who has now gone to a foster home, until he is big enough to adopt. At last I will get some peace and quiet, he is pretty cute though.

Don't forget to watch TVOne this Sunday at 7.30pm. The programme 'Sunday' is doing a report on factory farming of pigs in New Zealand. Find out why nearly half a million people will have grave doubts about eating factory farmed pork products after watching this show.

In more education news, we have another new member of our team. Her name is 'Dippy', because half of her tail looks like it has been dipped in chocolate. She is very friendly, and loves to crawl down peoples jumpers. Here is a pic of her, take a look.

Well thats all from me for now, I will try and update my next blog a little sooner. See ya oink oink Chester.

School Holiday Programme Success!!

Hi again! Well its well into summer now, and its hot! hot! hot! Don't forget that all of your animals need a place to stay cool in the summer. Trees, man made shelters, ponds are great for your farm animals, even shade sails.

Heres a pic of me keeping myself cool

If you own rats, some of them love to swim, especially in the summer time.

Our rats even have their own little paddling pool. It consists of an unused paint tray, some tasty treats and of course some water. Fill the deep side of the paint tray with water, throw in some frozen peas, or something they love to eat, and they will love to have a paddle racing after their treats.

Its nearly back to school time. The Auckland SPCA school holiday programme was a great success. I had heaps of fun, meeting some great kids.

I can't wait until the next one, where I know we will have even more fun.

Check out the pics of our school holiday programme.

Young Pet Carers, outside Georges Barn

I know our rabbits, guinea pigs and rats enjoyed themselves, especially when the kids made them some vegetable wraps!!

They also loved being groomed by the young kiddies!

My mate Wayne loved the attention he got!

Thats the end of my blog until next time, have a great summer, and remember to slip, slop, slap and wrap!!

Oink, Oink, Oink Merry Christmas

Hi! Well Christmas has arrived and great news, my mates on the farm have a fantastic Christmas present coming. The 'Fun Fundraising Themometer' has reached its final goal and we can now go ahead and start building three new magnificent shelters for my buddy 'Miss Moo' and her goat friends. A huge thank you to all that gave us donations and a special thank you to Western Heights School and CMC Markets NZ for their amazing contributions. Check out the chart and watch out for an update of the shelters once they are made.

All About Kune Kunes

In this blog, I thought I would tell you a little bit about my breed, thats the 'Kune Kune'. We are a very special breed of pig, very unique.The name 'Kune Kune' means ‘fat and round’ in Maori. Although our origin is not completely certain, one of the stories is that whalers operating in New Zealand waters brought the kune kune over, and traded them with the Maoris. There are similar pigs in other parts of the world such as Asia, South America and the Polynesian islands.

Kune kunes are known for their placid nature and have found their place as pet pigs. We have a unique appearance and love human contact, we are intelligent, resourceful and affectionate.

One of the Kune kune's physical characteristics is its tassels or pire pire. These are usually about 4cm long and hang from the lower jaw. Although not all Kune kune's have tassels and some may only have one, I infact have two!

The Kune Kune is smaller than other breeds, although we are a fatty breed and we do have a tendency to become obese if overfed.

One example of that is a Kune Kune we have living at the Auckland SPCA at the moment. His name is 'Wally', and only a year old he weighs even more than I do! He is so fat around his eyes, he can't even see! Even though his old owners loved him very much, they did not realise the poor diet he was getting. He often got alot of bakery food, like bread and loved to get into the chicken feed.

'Wally'

Kune kunes are grass grazers, and will graze quite happily with other types of animals in a paddock. They can live quite happily on grass alone. But as pasture quality varies their diet does need to be supplemented. Great types of supplement food is cabbage, carrots, apples and other fruit and veges. If Kune kunes do become overweight like 'Wally', we can suffer from diabetes and heart disease just like people. We also wouldn't be able to move much because we only have little legs and wouldn't be able to carry the weight.

Wally is now on a healthy eatting plan, and overtime should become a healthy weight for a Kune Kune.

Apart from our diet something else we love to do is lie in a lovely cool mud pool. All pigs love to do this, its not because we like to be dirty. In fact pigs are very clean animals, they can even be trained to use a litter tray just like a cat. I am a very clean boy, I sleep in my pen all night in the barn, and wait until the morning to be let outside until I go to the toilet, I don't like going in my bed! Now did you know that pigs don't sweat? This is why we like to lie in the mud, because we don't sweat we don't have a way to keep ourselves cool, so instead we lie in the mud which keeps us cool and the mud also protects our skin from getting sunburn, just like a sunblock!

Here is a pic of my mud pool, I LOVE IT!!

Education Team Foster Kittens

The Education Team is fostering some kittens at the moment, they are very cute. This is so they will be ready to play with the kids at the 'Auckland SPCA School Holiday Experience', cat day. If you still would like to book a place click here.

This is 'Peaches' one of our Education Team foster kittens.

My First Blog

Hi! My name is 'Chester' and I am the Team Leader of the Education Animals here at Auckland SPCA. I love living here, there’s lots of grass for me to eat, I have a fantastic mud pool to help keep me cool in the summer and a nice warm bed in 'Georges Barn' where I sleep every night. I’ll be telling you about what’s happening with the Auckland SPCA Education team as well as any new arrivals we might have down on the farm. Look out for tips on future blogs for ideas to keep your rats entertained, the importance of a good diet for pigs and watch out for any farm animals we might have for adoption.

The Auckland SPCA Education Programme

We have a number of different animals that live in 'Georges Barn' and in our Education barn yard, ranging from the very small 'Hannah and Montana' our two beautiful rats, up to our very large ‘Miss Moo’ our gorgeous cow. Whenever there is a group booked to visit, we get very excited. We love visitors! The rats, rabbits and guinea pigs are ready and waiting in their pens, and the goats, sheep and Miss Moo can't wait to come inside to greet their visitors. We love teaching groups about pet care and owner responsibility and we all have a story to tell. If you would like to learn more about our Education programme and perhaps book a visit click here. We even do birthday parties!

The Auckland SPCA School Holiday Experience

We love visitors so much we are even have our own school holiday programme, click here to see the programme and who to contact to book a place.

Fun Fundraising Thermometer

My mate 'Miss Moo' our beautiful education cow and several of her close friends - consisting of goats and sheep which are currently being housed at the Auckland Animal Village need new shelters. We are currently raising money to build three new large shelters for the goats and sheep on the education team and for the incoming rescued farm animals at the Animal Village. Check out the fun fundraising target thermometer on this blog and keep an eye on its progress towards the building of new farm animal shelters. You can also click here to view it on our website. If you would like to make a contribution please contact - Fiona Mcdonald Education Barn Supervisor, email her at fiona.mcdonald@spca.org.nz or call on 09 256 7300 extn 824.