Poppy

A "mini-zoo" was discovered in 2017 by chance when a meter man executed a warrant for unpaid gas at what was later described as a 'house of horrors'. Poppy was one of 23 animals discovered in the home living in "horrifying conditions". He alerted an animal rescue organisation who upon inspection found a home that stank of neglect; with piles of dog poo in the kitchen, rotting food, and animals kept in cramped cages with barely enough room to move and without ready access to water.

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As well as Poppy, a barn owl and fox were found caged up in separate rooms, plus a bearded dragon, African grey parrot, fancy rat, 5 Snakes, 8 Degus, a cat and several dogs were found at the property. Sadly, one of the dogs was in such poor condition and so very poorly that she was put to sleep, but all of the other animals were re-homed with sanctuaries. We were able to help Poppy, as well as the fox (our lovely Freya), the rat (Ruby), and the degus!

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The couple admitted cruelty charges and pleaded guilty to five charges related to animal cruelty.

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When she first arrived, Poppy was extremely nervous and we kept our daily interaction with her to an absolute minimum to allow her time to settle in. She spent much of her time pacing up and down or simply turning in circles which could be a stereotypic behaviour brought on by her previous cramped conditions. Thankfully, with time, patience, reassurance, and enrichment; this behaviour eventually ceased and we started to witness normal tanuki behaviour from Poppy! A huge step forward, as we had begun to fear that her trauma had simply been too much.

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Poppy was previously caged and collared, kept as a pet; but it is important to remember that these are absolutely not pets - tanuki are "wild" animals.

Unlike some of our other residents, Poppy won't thrive with our company and attention and so we don't force this upon her. She is shy but very inquisitive and intelligent, so we can engage with her by making her environment fun - placing new toys, scents, foods, and items for her to explore and engage with. Watching her clearly enjoying playing and investigating her surroundings in new ways can be wonderful!

Rizzo

Rizzo joined us in 2022 after she was found living in poor conditions and needed a new Forever Home. Tanuki are very social animals and both Rizzo nor Poppy hadn't known the company of others of their kind, so we had high hopes that we would be able to introduce them to one another and not only give them a happy home but friendship too!

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This was a very slow process, as Poppy in particular is a very sensitive girl following her very tough start in life. We didn’t want to cause any stress to either Poppy or Rizzo, and over time, they started to show positive behaviour and a clear interest in each other – until we had a breakthrough moment! We watched on with tears in our eyes as Poppy sat grooming Rizzo in the early hours of the morning. Poppy who has never known the company of another of her kind, grooming, vocalising, and later happily snuggling up with her new best friend. Poppy, whose life began in a cramped, filthy puppy crate, is now with a friend, and even better to come…

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Because we have now moved them out into their own enclosure together. After the heartbreaking loss of our lovely Fiona the raccoon at the start of 2022, we had left our raccoon habitat empty since. We must consider the animals we have here before we think of taking in others, and so we made the decision to move Poppy and Rizzo out into this enclosure, where they now have much more space and everything they need. Both of these lovely Tanukis began their lives indoors without this access to a more natural environment, and so we are pleased to finally be able to turn their lives around. We think our lovely Fiona and Sophie would have approved of this use of their home.

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As nocturnal animals, you may not always see them outside during the day; but in time we hope you will be rewarded with a sighting of these lovely ladies!