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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!
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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
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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)
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4 of the 30 females rescued from a fur farm
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Rosebud, Wendy and
Lilly
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Chan Chan
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'I love my new Mum
xx'
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Co-Co
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Some
of the many articles Lee wrote for below
- including news articles of her
personal campaign against cruelty to
chinchillas
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 1997
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'...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
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If you would like to help the 'Chin Up' please
contact LINDA or CAROLYN
(C2H team) for details
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