Guinea pig are tiny sociable rodents that cannot bear being lonely. In fact they could die from isolation. That is why in Switzerland they have an unusual animal welfare law that prohibits guinea pig owners from keeping the tiny furry rodents on their own.
So what happens when one guinea pig dies?
Priska Kung, a swiss animal lover, runs a ‘rent-a-guinea pig’ service to provide companion to lonely guinea pigs that have recently lost their partners. She house around 80 guinea pigs in the village of Hadlikon, 30 kilometers from Zurich.
Kung, a teacher by profession, is the founder and the president of IG Meerschweinchen, one of Switzerland’s guinea pig associations. At the age of 2, she got her first guinea pig and she started breeding them when she was 12.
“It’s a hobby that costs me more money than I earn from it,” says Kung.
Kung claims that filing a guinea pig for rent is not easy. It is actually more complicated than it seems. Even though guinea pigs are famous for their friendly characteristics they can be choosy about who they stay with. That is why she ensures both of the guinea pigs match before she rent them out.
“It’s important that none of the rental guinea pigs just keep getting passed on,” says Küng. “If an animal has been hired out once, it either stays with me for the rest of its life or it moves somewhere else for good.”
Thanks to Kung’s ‘rent-a-guinea pig’ service guinea pig owners doesn’t need to purchase younger guinea pig and get stuck in a never ending circle of purchasing new guinea pig every time the old one dies.