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Hog Haven welcomes visitors to help celebrate Guinea Pig Awareness Week.
Photo courtesy of ChronicleLive.
If you find yourself near Northumberland, England, anytime soon, take a stop at Northumberland Zoo. Here, guinea pigs run wild in Hog Town — a miniature Wild West-themed hamlet with its own bank, saloon, barber and church — where the local population is more likely to have a squeak fight over treats than a quick-draw at sundown.
Twenty rescued guinea pigs call Hog Town home at the Northumberland Zoo, which opened in 2023 with the purpose to show visitors how to properly care for guinea pigs, each of whom is a rescue from Gertie’s Guinea Pig Rescue.
Why guinea pigs? Lucy Edwards, curator at Northumberland Zoo, says, “I’m a massive advocate for rescuing animals and rescue centers are absolutely bursting at the seams with animals, guinea pigs in particular.”
Twenty rescued guinea pigs call Hog Town home. Photo courtesy of ChronicleLive.
The miniature town’s structures are situated in a large, open-air enclosure — featuring small, wooden buildings with signs advertising must-have services for any Wild West outpost such as a mercantile, doctor’s office and blacksmith. These buildings give the guinea pigs a safe place to explore and hide, says Edwards.
Each wooden building has a concrete base to keep the guinea pigs from getting dirty during wet weather. When asked about the open-air nature of the Wild West town, Edwards says that in the UK, “We don’t really have any major predators,” and because the guinea pigs are locked in at nighttime, and with so many keepers and visitors, predators “aren’t really a risk at all.”
Hog Haven is welcoming visitors year round and especially this week as the zoo celebrates Guinea Pig Awareness Week, now in its fourth year, as a time to learn all about pet guinea pigs.
