24-hour stopover in Italy for the goats

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Animalcouriers

On their long journey from the UK to Greece, the Anglo Nubian goats have to have to 24-hour stopover at a control post near Torgiano in Italy.

When we arrived last night, we were met by a young chap who was proud to test his very good English on us.

He showed us to a barn that was divided up into pens. We had to explain that we needed to divide them up into one, three and six to a pen. Using English, Spanish and hand signals, we managed to explain that the six girls were inseparable and that one boy sees himself as top goat and would fight with the other three.

This morning we were pleased to find them all well and happy and ready for breakfast. Everyone at the control post is very caring. The vet is due later to check the goats and sign and stamp our paperwork.

: The goats are at a very picturesque location

: Top goat looking for his girls

: The girls meet a pig, who greets them with a great snort from the other side of the bars

: The girls

Travels with a terrapin

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Animalcouriers

Logo the terrapin is on his way from London to Barcelona in Spain with Animalcouriers.

We were given extremely clear, illustrated instructions on how to care for him. Wonderful!

Logo

Feeding time

Safety first

Preferred environment

Siesta time

Quiz results…

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Animalcouriers

Well, it’s a hard decision this month. We had two quizzes running at the same time:

1. What is this a picture of?:

Any idea?

We had this answer from our vet, Diana James, who suggested “rolls of cheese?”.

Jane Biddiss suggested they were “Bananas as designated by the EU – standard shape, standard colour, standard size!!!”

2. What’s the bag for?

Any idea?

Diana suggested “snails?”

Jane however suggested “The bag is for their shopping. This person isn’t harvesting anything they were just crossing the field on their way to the shops!!!”

The real answers were: 1. Gouda cheeses with cumin and 2. Snails (collecting snails off the vines before they can do too much damage — in this instance they weren’t turned into cargolade, just escorted to another part of the domaine).

Diana will no doubt take this up with us on our next visit but we’ve decided to award the May prize to Jane, who we think has shown her usual flair and inventive streak and as a mark of our respect for her continued life with the Portugese Pilfering Pooch. We’ll get your prize of an Animalcouriers ~~SWAG~~ STUFF bag to you as soon as we can.

Well done and we await the answers to our June quiz with interest.

Serapis

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Animalcouriers

Serapis the Milk Snake is off to join his owner Susan, who recently moved the to The Hague in the Netherlands.

Serapis wasn’t very impressed with the first leg of his journey as far as Surrey, when he travelled in a smaller vivarium than he is used to. He dived into his upturned plant pot and stayed there for a full 24 hours without even bothering to look out!

Today, however, he cast a beady eye on his surroundings and then decided to have a drink.

Now basking on the sunny side of his own vivarium, he is starting to look like a seasoned traveller.

Lurking in the background, barely visible

Ready for a chat, if only we spoke Parseltongue

Cuddly bunny

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Animalcouriers

Charlie the lop-eared rabbit is moving from England to the Barcelona area of Spain.

His owner, Laura, has already arrived back to Spain, so Charlie stayed with a friend of hers before joining the Animalcouriers trip.

Charlie will be home with Laura in just a few hours.

What a cute fellow

Playing patience in Galway

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Animalcouriers

Christina and her husband are moving from Galway, in the West of Ireland, to Cornwall. Her husband has gone on ahead with their four house cats and one of their dogs. Christina will follow with their other two dogs. Animalcouriers is transporting their six ducks and six chickens — and their feral cats.

Using cat traps borrowed from the local cat charity, five of the feral colony were already safely loaded in the van. On a fine sunny morning, Courier M enjoyed views of Mount Gable while waiting for hunger and curiosity to overcome the suspicion of the remaining three, including Pershy.

Unfortunately he had to leave to catch the ferry before Pershy and the other two had been trapped. Christina is still hopeful of catching Pershy, who will then go to a cattery to await a friend or relative travelling to the UK. Pershy is very pretty but very canny and knew full well that something was up. A little minx but you have to admire her!

The other two feral cats are very timid indeed, and Christina knew all along that it would be extremely difficult to catch them. A neighbour has offered to take them on which is probably the best outcome for them.

We expect to reach Cornwall with our passengers later today.

: a cat transferred from trap to cage

: cat trap waiting for a cat

: curious chickens watch the goings on

: chickens waiting to board the van

: Christina and Speckles

: hello ducky

: ducks checking out the accommodation

: comfy ducks

: one of the feral cats

: one of the feral cats

: suspicious Pershy

Creative uses of technology

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Animalcouriers

Jan and Findlay are the Animalcouriers clients with 33 cats to keep tabs on. So they use a piece of high-tech equipment most of us have only ever seen used in wildlife documentaries to keep track of game animals in Africa.

Each cat has a small battery-operated radio transmitter on its collar, each of these has a unique frequency which can be picked up by the receiver that Jan is holding in the photo. Jan and Findlay can find out the direction a cat has taken and roughly how far away it is, which considerably narrows down the area they have to search to check up on any cats they are concerned about.

The cats, however, are so clever that when they hear the sound emitted by the receiver, they know that hunting and playtime is over and that it’s time to go home for supper.

The head LED light is also helpful as the light reflects the cats’ eyes, so Jan and Findlay know a cat is there and is heading home. Each cat is checked in and out on a daily basis on a huge checklist. Once a cat is ‘seen’, Jan and Findlay can relax. When any cat is not in they can track them to check that all is okay.

Jan with her tracking kit

The Italian job

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Animalcouriers

When Jan and Findlay found they needed to make a job-related move from the hills outside North Rome to the heel of Italy, they knew that moving house was not going to be a simple as it would be for most of us.

This quiet couple have managed to accumulate two dogs, Angel and Sam — and 33 cats, all but one of whom needed to move too.

Through their compassion for animals they have been rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming cats in their local area for more than 10 years. They have rehomed many litters of kittens, keeping the mums. Jan, who does not overlook any opportunity for educating and promoting the welfare of cats, educates new owners and neighbours about caring for cats and the importance of neutering as a method of controlling populations.

Many of the cats they have kept are semi-feral and have never lived as house cats. Cats that cannot be rehomed have joined their extended family — and are in fact the lucky ones, as Jan and Findlay live in a rural area with plenty of space for them to roam safely.

We were very impressed by the fact that every cat is an individual to them. They know their characters and their idiosyncrasies. This was very important when it came to deciding how they were to be transported. Fortunately for Animalcouriers, Jan and Findlay are calm, logical people who had planned today’s move down to the last detail.

When we arrived at their house last night to meet them and the cats, all the cats but one were indoors. Jan knew where it was thanks to the tracking system and was planning to go out later. (Which she did, and reported to us by email: “Just got the last one (Lotta) in after much rushing about in the dark and shouting.”)

All the furniture had already gone, and dotted around the house were cushions and cat beds containing some of the calmest cats we have ever encountered. It was hard to believe they weren’t all lap cats. We left a large pile of cages and cat carriers in which the cats were to travel, had a chat about plans, and left to stay in a nearby village.

After we’d gone, Jan and Findlay left the cages and cat carriers around the house, each with a little ‘bed’ of their used clothing in it so that the cats could get used to them. During the night they could hear the cats working away at the blocked-off cat flaps that had been sealed to prevent them getting out. Knowing their cats, Jan and Findlay took a mattress each: Jan slept against one cat flap while Findlay slept against the other!

In the morning Jan ‘scatter fed’ the cats with biscuits, placing some in the cages. So as the cats walked in to find their breakfast, Jan and Findlay gently shut the doors behind them. By the time we arrived most of the cats were ready to be loaded into the van. The whole operation went like a well-oiled machine thanks to the calm and thoughtful approach from Jan and Findlay.

Of the 33 cats, 32 are travelling. The 33rd, Gandalf is an un-neutered tom who no-one has ever caught, so he is going to stay and keep an eye on the new owners, who will watch out for him.

As we shut the door, ready to leave, Jan said: “Now they are all loaded and on their way, I can wind down.” We hadn’t noticed that she was even slightly ‘wound up’!

The cast of characters: