Guinea Pigs have once again lived up to their namesake. Over the years of the pandemic, guinea pig sales soared at petstores around the world, and with it so has the rates of abandonment. Pet stores have been the major supplier to the market, displaying signs of treating them as commodities to sell with attached accessories, not pets with long lifespans and medical needs greater than the average dog or cat expenses. These unfair sales practices lead to difficult living envornments for the guineas, strained relationships in the household, followed with feelings of guilt for having to rehome the new family member.

This painful journey does not end there. After the painful decision has been made, they are only met with rejection. There is no room in any rescues for them. There is no pet store that will take them back, they aren't small and cute anymore. What to do now?

Countless little guinea pig lives. Laws have been created to protect cats and dogs, it should be easy to be able to draft comperable legislation for guineas and other small animals if they undersood the public interest in it. If the sales continue, the amounts of abandonments seen will only continue to grow.

In this recently published Insider article, there is discussion about the mass level of guinea pigs that are being abandoned with the slowing of covid isolation orders. One Twitter post shows a crate of abandonded guineas, including several pregnant ones. NYC is recognizing a problem, and is doing something to address it by starting to draft legistration, it is time that California leads the charge in legislation, as it so often has before.