Animal life goes on in lockdown
From rescuing a dog to getting new homes for 900 hens, it hasn’t been a quiet time at the Happy Pants Ranch. Chloe Holmwood reports...
For most, the coronavirus crisis has forced people to slow down, but lockdown life at an animal sanctuary has been as busy as before.
The Happy Pants Ranch, in Yelsted, between Sittingbourne and Maidstone, has been closed to the public since March.
But founder Amey James says plenty has been going on behind the scenes since then, including the birth of three pygmy goats and four piglets.
The 34-year-old said the “lockdown babies” were “both surprise litters, as we do not breed on the sanctuary, but were a lovely surprise”.
One of the female piglets, called Wotsit, was born “very unwell and almost died”, Amey added, but now she’s living at the sanctuary as a house pig. “She had to be hand reared with round-the-clock feeding, which was very tiring,” Amey said.
“But now she’s doing just great.”
She added: “Lockdown life has been just as busy and crazy as normal here.”
The charity sanctuary, which has more than 300 unwanted and abandoned animals, from cats and guinea pigs to cows and goats, has also welcomed two dogs.
Stavros, possibly a shih tzucross who is almost blind, came from Greece and Brandy, thought to be a collie cross retriever, came from Romania, where he had been chained up for the past three years.
“They are really settling into ranch life now,” Amey said. “Stavros settled so well, he’s a chilled out little dog.
“It just amazes me how these dogs, who’ve never been around cats, house pigs and chickens just accept it.”
She added: “Brandy is also very chilled out, he loves people, but we are trying to work on his escapism.
“Where he was always chained up, he tries to escape but we’re hoping he’ll become even more settled soon.”
Meanwhile, following an appeal for help to save former commercial hens from being killed last month, 940 hens were offered homes from members of the public.
Amey said: “Fifty of the hens were sponsored to stay on the sanctuary for life and the rest made their way to new homes across the county.
“With the help from other