By Birgit Buerkner
It squeaks, chuckles and hums happily in Jana Sommertal’s (37) garden. Colorful bobbles whiz across the meadow, perform happy hops – more pig is not possible!
The education officer runs a guinea pig emergency station on her property in Teltow. She gives animals from overwhelmed owners and rodents from animal hoarding stocks a new home. Super cute and XXL: the open-air enclosure is the family garden.
“I took in guinea pigs that looked like a clump of fur and were smeared with feces and urine,” says Sommertal. “Some suffered from mite or fungal infestations, some had claws that had grown into their flesh.” She saw behavioral problems, such as mutual nibbling.
You can see guinea pigs everywhere in the Sommertal family’s garden. A lawnmower is not required here Photo: Thomas Spikermann
The cheeky gang of up to 60 pig bullies is lovingly cared for by the shepherd dog Happy (1). She nudges the rodents on the bottom when they are supposed to go to her four-story indoor adventure playground in the evening. “Guinea pigs need hiding places, tunnels, bridges – the more variety, the better,” says Sommertal. “They should be kept in groups of at least three animals in two square meters, plus half a square meter for each additional animal.”
Foxi, Eevee, Alma and Biscuit (in front), Friedolin (above) and all the other little pigs also get fresh vegetables, herbs and hay Photo: Thomas Spikermann
Dog Happy watches over his little friends. He shares a pepper with Alma Photo: Thomas Spikermann
When there’s trouble in the pigsty at Haltern’s home, Sommertal is also the perfect guinea pig whisperer. “It can be that an animal is being bullied, that two bite each other or that pigs are depressed.”
She solves such guinea pig emergencies quickly. “Most of the time, putting a younger animal next to it or providing sensory stimulation helps.”
►Emergency station, advice and mediation: www.guinea-pig-garden.de