Seeing guinea pigs on my run...am I hallucinating????

Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus, also commonly called the cavy) are not a known as a Canadian animal.

Like many countires, we do keep them as pets. We don't eat them here, at least not to my knowledge.

They are pets kept indoors and often in cages.

Here is the thing....the other day, after 12 kilometers of running my fool head off....I came across a bush with two guinea pigs under it. I took a second look...and yup...they were definately guinea pigs...chomping on some nice green grass.

So I kept going...and past the bush...I swear....there were another ten to twenty of the little buggers munching about.

I have never, in my entire life, seen guinea pigs running wild in a large inner city!

What's up with that....or.....did I actually hallucinate the cuties????

My wife and I used to raise them and they can reproduce several times a year. The babies are born eyes open and ready to go. Within 24 hrs they are trying out their parents food.

It sounds like they might have been dumped by someone and there a few generations doing well. Although I have never seen them in a wild setting before. But they are a rodent and we all know how adaptable they are.

I've asked around the office....noone has ever seen this. It's also on a very, very busy street but located just behind an area that would easily have coyotes and other predators. I'm suprised they are all alive.

It appears to be an escaped rogue colony asunder, and with the mild winter of past, plus ample procreation opportunities = RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!! The Great Canadian Wild Guinea Pig makes it debut.

Or you took too many pain killers and they are fattened baby rats.

lol....they were definately guinea pigs!!!!!

I used to raise the breeders ... they sure can breed fast. Probably abandoned pets that are surviving well.

In San Francisco, horrible persons abandon cats and kittens in Golden Gate Park. The cat pack is cutting down the natural bird population something fierce ... a real problem. White cats, btw, don't last long in the wild ... black cats are best at hiding and hunting effectively.

Around Ravenhurst, my neighbor had a queen cat who was not spayed. She popped out litters regularly for a couple of years and they went feral ... for a short time. Owls, etc, enjoyed them a great deal.

Remember in Central Park in Manhatten NYC they recently captured a wild cyote ... who was living quite well in the park in the middle of a huge city. They are also some hawks in Manhatten that nest on the "cliffs" of skyscrapers and eat pigeons (the locals applaud!)

If cyotes and house cats and hawks can adapt to city life, why not the cavies? Cool find, btw ... thanks for sharing.

I am sure if I saw one like this that I was hallucinating.

Satin Peruvian guinea pig.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It looks like a wig that got loose and took off.

Did I mention that they were all on ONE PERSONS LAWN?????? No fence, no barrier, just a gang of guinea pigs mowing the lawn.

Brent...thankfully they were of the shorter haired variety, so I didn't just think they were blobs of fur...lol

At least they didn't decide to stampede while you were passing by. It could have been ugly.

Hair everywhere!

I think that Brent is right. Guinea pigs can reproduce quickly and this is probably a large family.
Maybe someone tried and experiment and let two guinea pigs (one male and one female) in the closest field to see what happened.

Yesterday night, while I was running my 9 km, I met an entire family of cute wild rabbits. They are sooooo nice with their white tie!

I suspect so do, but I do wonder why they were on just one lawn....odd.

Maybe they were just preparing to stampede but had a few stragglers they were all waiting on.