CHIN UP

Top quality toys in the UK for Chinchilla owners - visit us at http://www.chinchillas2shop.co.uk
We have a very large assortment of unique toys and feeds especially designed for the Chinchilla
Bunnies, guinea pigs, Degu and other small furries are also welcome!

DETAILS OF HOW TO HELP LEE and CHIN UP SANCTUARY
Lee would be ever so grateful for any financial help at this particular hard time when
finances are very low and ill chinchillas need medical attention
For more information you can phone Lee on 01766 810799
You can send a cheque to: Lee campbell
Address: GWERNALLT BUNGALOW, LLANARMON, CHWILOG, PHLLHELI, GWYNEDD, LL53 6LJ
ALL donations will be gratefully appreciated by Lee and 100% very carefully used towards the needs of rescue chinchillas in her care

CHINCHILLAS AND THEIR SAND BATH *important read*
Contrary to chinchillas and giving them a sand bath 'every other day or so' - Chinchillas DO NEED a bath every day
In the wild, chinchillas will bathe in the volcanic ash that settles in the mountainous regions of the Andes
And it's important that as we in the UK that live in the Northern hemisphere (a damp climate) let them have a bath
Chinchillas will not overdo their sand bath (although some may love it more than others)
don't worry about 'scratching' - that's normal and not because they are overdoing it - their skin is designed to be
cleaned with the ash every day in the Andes - the FINER the ash/sand - the better
If your sand bath is made of metal - it can be left in the cage all the time
Plastic ones (especially with top covers) are ideal for everyday outside while they play
Lee of 'chin up' gives all her chinchillas a bath every day - they are plush and happy
Most breeders/pet shops tend to say every other day - but then - what do most pet shops/breeders know? they are only passing on what someone else from the old breeding colonies thought. Think of it this way, what would your chinchilla do if left to it's own devices, in the Andes, where volcanic dust is all around them, all the time, ever day?
- would they say 'oh no, I've had a bath yesterday, I'll give it a miss today!'
Of course not! - have you noticed it's the first thing they think about when you put it in front of their little noses?
The damp climate in the UK and most populated areas is not good on chinchilla health, it is not only
for their fur - it's for their own health and keeps their fur and skin in good condition - damp fur leads to allsorts of health problems, it needs to be dry and if they scratch - then that's good!

The 'CHIN UP SANCTUARY
Lee Campbell, a devoted chinchilla owner that runs the 'Chin Up' animal sanctuary based in Wales

Not many chinchilla owners will know of Lee, but she was well known by fur breeders in the past
years because of her fight against cruelty and the bad conditions that many chinchillas endured in the
fur trade, writing many articles and also forming a sanctuary for unfortunate chinchillas based in Wales

we are pleased to enclosed below for Lee, articles and information about her devoted work for chinchillas

Lee is constantly sacrificing her own time to care for unfortunate chinchillas in her care
The amount of chins can be as great as 70+ and keeping all happy is a full time job on itself
and she very much appreciates help to keep her work going strong

Written by Lee Campbell from 'The Chinchilla Club' (1993 January edition) - Sweeney (breeders) brochure
'Discovering my very first pet chinchilla some 6 years ago in a pet shop, was a case of 'Love at first sight'. having purchased - Winkie, telephoned the Zoological Gardens for background data - Winkie would be far happier with a mate, a large spacious cage, a daily dust bath, a dried, clean apple branch to climb, nest box and gnawing materials to keep those teeth occupied, she already made short work of my nails!

Within a few weeks - Doby, her male companion arrived. With everything arranged it was a wonderful sight to behold, a pair of Chinchillas snuggled up so obviously pleased to be together. The Chinchilla feed was organised from a top breeder, books on chinchillas had arrived, we were at peace with the world, This euphoria was sadly not to last. Winkie became pregnant, she developed what several vets had nearly convinced me was conjunctivitus. Not long after giving birth to Possom, she started to refuse carrot and raisins, etc. By this time I had become desperate and arranged to take her to a top breeder, who diagnosed 'Malocclusion'. Winkie was rushed off to the vet to have her molars filed, her tongue was completely trapped by her bottom molars. This treatment was repeated two months later and X-rays sent to London Zoo. Winkie then went off to the Zoo to have her molars ground down with a diamond drill, repeated a couple of months later - both the dentist and Zoologist were optimistic. Another trip to the Zoo, this time for a few days of tests. Winkie was in a terrible state, obviously suffering. With a great reluctance I had agree to have her euthanised - the Zoologist showed me X-rays and commented in order to do any good we should have been working on the roots. When her skull was sent to me I was horrified at the degree of damage the roots had caused - she obviously suffered greatly. The whole episode led me to write to Universities, fur breeders, other Zoologists and Dentists, both here and abroad. Over a three year period I have lost 14 animals with Malocclusion including Winkies family - Doby and Possom. Instead of appeasing myself i have been led into a world of fur farm, pelting, vivisection and other barbaric practices. All my animals are purchased and classified as rescued from fur farms

Some of Lee's Chinchillas that are rescues from fur farms
(photo on the right - Lee with one her large cages where some of the rescues live happily)

4 of the 30 females rescued from a fur farm

Rosebud, Wendy and Lilly

Chan Chan

'I love my new Mum xx'

Co-Co

Some of the many articles Lee wrote for below - including news articles of her personal campaign against cruelty to chinchillas

An article written by Lee on the plight of the chinchilla

'...in 1991 Chin Up was founded. The sanctuary takes in sick, abused or unwanted Chinchillas, plus legally rescued animals...Lee would like to see outlawed...the sanctuary is about to have donated from units, a large number of elderly females who would otherwise be killed. They desrerve to live their lives out in peace. Chin Up's financial problems are serious. Our animals' needs always comes first so even this leaflet has had to be produced for us by sympathisers...to care for present and future rescues, and achieve it's aims, Chin Up desperately needs your help.
Please, please support us. We have come this far - we couldn't bear to let the animals down now.'

1997

'...For the last 2 years Chin Up has been inundated with unwanted, mainly male, pet chinchillas. This is not surprising when most of the females are in their units and will probably never get out, unless passed on to another unit. Chinchillas are now being over bred for pets in 'Fur Farming' methods of production.....already chinchillas have been put in a cardboard box and left in a wood to be killed by some predator...Chin Up has had a staggering 40 chinchillas put to sleep with dental disease that seems to have reached plague proportions, there are 36 more with varying degrees of malocclusion...The chinchillas are waiting in units all over the UK for help, it is Chin Up's aim to make sure they get some... 'presently we have 40 chinchillas with new arrivals all the time...most of our animals are farmed and, in my opinion, aren't suitable for re-homing..I would like to say that all of you could save a chinchilla or two from one of Britain's many battery units. A 4ft by 25" area would be a dream come true when you have spent years in anything from 12"x12", and if you are lucky 15" x 18" all your life...when i sit at night in the lounge surrounded by many pairs of tiny eyes I am saddened that chinchillas were ever taken from the Andes at all, we could never put back the farmed chinchillas in the wild, they would certainly die and, unlike mink, sadly they are unable to naturalise. Our climate is too harsh, indigenous to the Andes and never surviving anywhere else in the world they have only one chance for a kinder welfare system