i stayed with my mother’s sister and her husband in Chiseldon, a little village outside Swindon in Wiltshire. My mother’s family have long been crazy animal people, and ann has been rescuing abandoned animals since… well, since forever. in our family, you don’t buy animals. you rescue them. so anne has.
they have about 7 cats (most of whom are really really old and really really disgusting: i wouldn’t touch them if i could), 3 dogs (including a grotty mongrel with multiple neuroses, a spoilt and badly behaved beagle and a wonderfully gentle staffordshire terrier who has only one leg. he was rescued from the welsh vallies, where they’d broken his jaw and thrown him to some pit bulls to fire them up for an illegal dog fight. he is really lovely, but was most amusing when he hurt his remaining front paw and developed balance issues), a pony, a pig, a ferret, lots of weirdo chickens (whose eggs are sold to raise money for some save-the-children charity) and stacks of ducks. there used to be a goat, but he died. that goat was nice, too. he once lived at a school, where he served some sort of educational purpose. then they decided he had no proper use, and lived in a teacher’s front garden til he was rescued. but he’s dead now.
here is one of my absolute favourites. colin.
colin is a vietnamese pot-bellied pig, who lived in a pub, fed on crisps and chocolate until he grew too big and was abandoned. so my family rescued him. he has been steadily dieting since he’s lived with anne, and while once hideously overweight, he is now just hideous.
that sounds too harsh. colin is actually a friendly, cheerful pig, who loves company and being patted. this isn’t always the case with pigs – they can be nasty and vicious.
read on for more crazy animal stories….
Continue reading “and while i was away…”
