Kitchener woman searching for Guinea pigs who were taken from her front yard

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Search for missing Guinea pigs

Kitchener woman searching for Guinea pigs who were taken from her front yard

A pet owner is hoping for the safe return of two beloved Guinea pigs after they disappeared from her front yard in Kitchener, Ont.

“I just want my Guinea pigs to come home,” Barbara Robinson said.

Robinson said her Guinea pigs, Scotchie and Rocky, were in an enclosure in her front yard on Sunday when they went missing.

The enclosure typically has a piece of wood placed over the top to keep the pair safe, but when Robinson went to check on them, the wood had been moved and her pets were gone.

“Disappeared,” she said. “They got taken by somebody. Not just the Guinea pigs, but the cat carrier that they were in, all that. Somebody just took it.”

Robinson said the pair love spending time outside and during the COVID-19 pandemic, she moved them to the front lawn to try and raise the spirits of other people in her neighbourhood.

“Needless to say, I’m devastated, but not just me. Hundreds of people stop and see these Guinea pigs. You would not believe the number of people that tell me, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you for doing this,’” she explained.

She said she would put snacks out near the enclosure so people could feed the Guinea pigs.

“Kids would knock on the door if there weren’t snacks out,” she recalled. “The kids just lose their minds over the Guinea pigs. It’s just been a great thing in the nieghbourhood.”

Since Sunday, she has been receiving messages of support from neighbours and some local kids have even made cards to help lift her spirits.

“I’m hoping that whoever took them didn’t realize. Maybe they thought they were just to give away. It’s hard to believe because there was a board on top of their [enclosure], which there always is, but I’m just hoping whoever took them didn’t realize they’re previous pets. I’ve had them for five years. They’re my babies and I just want them to come home.”

In the meantime, she is asking people living nearby to check security footage for any sign of the duo, but she hasn’t filed a police report.

“I don’t see how police are going to find a couple of Guinea pigs to be perfectly honest, so I haven’t done that. I’m just hoping the neighbourhood sees and maybe somebody knows something. I don’t care who took them, I don’t care why. I just want them to bring them back so I can go on with my babies and my Guinea pig petting zoo.”