Rocky and Scotchie hold celebrity status in their Belmont Village neighbourhood.
The pair of guinea pigs spend most of their days, lounging in a large pen on the front lawn of Barbara Robinson’s Kitchener home.
Some might know Robinson as the president of Norton Engineering, a company specializing in sewers, where she’s known as ‘The Sewer Lady.’ But around Belmont Village, she’s known as ‘The Guinea Pig Lady.’
When pandemic social distancing rules left Robinson feeling lonely and isolated, she decided to share her passion for guinea pigs with her neighbourhood.
Everyday, Rocky and Scotchie are visited by neighbourhood adults and especially children as they’re out for walks or on their way to and from school. She leaves a little bowl of vegetables near their pen so visitors can give the pets a little treat.
Robinson was shocked when she went outside on Sunday, August 17 and found the pen empty.
“I was gobsmacked. I was literally speechless. I couldn’t get it into my brain that the guinea pigs were gone.”
The neighbourhood immediately jumped into action, sharing images on social media and getting the word out that Rocky and Scotchie had been stolen.
Just before midday on Monday, Robinson put a sign out front saying the guinea pigs had gone missing. Later that same day, she was contacted by someone saying the guinea pigs were at the Humane Society of Kitchener, Waterloo and Stratford, Perth.
Robinson was at the Humane Society front door when they opened Tuesday morning, and she was reunited with Rocky and Scotchie.
She told 570 NewsRadio it was a neighbourhood effort that brought her pets home.
“It took a whole community. All kinds of people offered to help. You know, the media was on it. Friends were on it. Neighbours with condolences. So, the whole community wanted those guinea pigs back, and the whole community got the guinea pigs back.”
Despite all the fear and worry, Robinson says she holds no ill will towards the people who took Rocky and Scotchie.
“Whoever took them didn’t understand that they were pets. They must have thought I was giving them away. They must have seen the sign, and they took them to the humane society the same day. You know, you don’t take a couple of guinea pigs to turn them into the humane society. They just made an honest mistake. I’m so grateful to those people they just returned the guinea pigs.”
Robinson added that her faith in humanity remains strong.
“Most people are good, those are good people. How do I know they’re good people? They brought the guinea pigs back the same day. And, let’s say they are, quotation marks ‘bad people’ if it’s bad people that took them, those people had a complete turnaround in one day and brought them back. No, these were good people who made a mistake.”
