Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Challange when Rescuing Pigs


This past week has been nothing but advertising , net working, table at the SPCA event and even a spot on the News. I am sure the amount of time we are seen in the news most will think wow she must be doing okay , she is always in the paper.

The facts are that a little networking got us 225.00 , the ad in the paper another couple of hundred and the TV spot 50.00.
We were however contacted by a gal who offered to put a fundraiser on for us at the Legion in Abbotford, a few emails asking about volunteering and a couple of calls asking about pigs for adoption.
That is good and is is how we have got to where we are today yet why we cannot do more then we are doing.

When i moved here in 1993 i was renting, and this is where i found my little Willy who taught me about loving pigs. When my landlord was going to sell it, I asked him if he would be willing to go into a partnership. This is how i bought this place and over the years i kept giving him more money and here i am today having the land and title, but him still owning 17% .

As most of you know the acreage is for sale , I can't afford to double my mortgage payment in order to buy my partner out. He wants the return now on his investment , its been 16 years. We have two acres and 41 grazing animals here and it is not enough room. I love everyone who lives here and my drive to do more for them is what keeps me moving forward. That one needs a bigger space , so do they and if i expand the piggy paddock's I cut into the horses pasture and everyone area to run free is effected. The open pasture becomes smaller and smaller every time i put up a pen.

Summer is easy but the winters are brutal. And for a species who needs the same temperatures as we do to survive with short legs in snow that must be shoveled before i can even feed at night well something has got to give. Before it is me, i need a better way to work this sanctuary so it can be maintained more efficiently. I am 52 year old and i am not sure how long i can keep up with this work so if i can't find pig help then i must bring in enough money to pay for it and that's not happening either.

I had two offers on the table yesterday and here we go . Now that i face the impending move i am scared and doubt everything i am doing. I am like the pigs , i am stubborn. It is what has kept me moving forward in everything i do. And I have faith and hope that if i re build , more help will come because i am doing Gods work and he has kept us safe. We never have to much but we always have what we need.

Last Wednesday Dayna arrived here who found out about us on the Internet and drove here from Edmonton to help me for ten days. I am desperate for help here so having someone move in with me for ten days is a blessing! She is vegan , has brought me cook books , bought everything and every day here i am eating nothing that suffered because of me. I have noticed i am not so tired at the end of the day , i don't wake up during the night thirsty and although some of it will acquire me having to get used to, if that is what i have to eat verses the flesh or end result of suffering that is what i will eat. Although i have not eaten meat for 16 years i cannot get what i need in peanut butter sandwiches from the lack of education on how to eat. And i will have to live 100 years or more as i have to be here to take care of pigs.

I had free range eggs in my fridge. What you don't want to know is that hens are the only thing that can lays eggs of course and while millions of little tiny yellow chicks move down the conveyor belts peeping , the boys are picked and chucked into a grinder. By eating eggs I am perpetuating standard practice in the poultry industry ..it goes on and on. My no egg tofu sandwich was just as good and no one was ground while alive for me.


I have a guy here doing community hours so i better get out there and follow behind what he is doing out there.

Our grant was denied as i bet most animals welfare groups are reading in emails in B.C. today so that insurance for the year has been removed. But they are not rescuing pigs and TV spots and advertising brings them in thousands of dollars so although they might be reeling, they will be okay because the public cares about cats and dogs just not pigs.

More to say but go to go for now , have a great day!

4 comments:

Jean said...

Janice, if friends' love and moral support were dollars and muscle, you would have all you ever dreamed of, because although we can't be there to help and don't have financial wealth to share, our hearts are sure with you and the piggies.
You are like my Soda - strong, stubborn, ready to go out and get whatever you need even if it means using some consistent, heavy shoving. LOL And, like Soda, it is perfectly okay to have a full-blown temper tantrum if you feel the need!
I wish you luck finding the perfect piece of land to resettle the sanctuary, and many willing hands and dollars to make it all work.
Hugs, Jean

Janice Gillett said...

Thank you Jean. I just feel like crying my heart out today...

I am scared and now that moving is a reality i pary we are not moving from one fire in a pan to another.

sobe said...

((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))

Anonymous said...

Paypal not working for me here. Please post your address; will snail-mail you some cash.
xo Addie