Guinea pig dwelling in money crunch after Fb funding row

A pair who take care of 130 guinea pigs say they worry the pets might need to be rehomed after abruptly – and unexpectedly – shedding the earnings they constituted of Fb.

Sophie Mason, 34, and her husband, Mark, collectively run the Fb web page Masons’ Cavies, which makes use of its 1.1 million followers to fund the care of the animals.

Ms Mason instructed the BBC rehoming the guinea pigs was “an actual risk” after their potential to boost cash on the platform was eliminated with out warning.

Meta, which owns Fb, has not responded to a request for remark.

“They’ve banned us from every part,” Ms Mason stated.

“We will not earn any type of earnings in anyway, it is all gone – you find yourself considering, god, what am I going to do?”

The couple pay for the care of their big variety of guinea pigs by way of promoting and premium live-streams that folks pay a subscription charge to look at.

That they had 2,000 subscriptions on the time their web page was demonetised, however this quantity has since fallen to 1,900 – they usually can not obtain the charges whereas their web page is restricted.

However they’re no nearer to fixing the issue, after Ms Mason’s efforts to contact Fb had been unsuccessful.

“Apparently I’ve damaged a rule, however it hasn’t instructed me what the rule is,” she stated.

“I’ve spoken to to the tech individuals at Fb a few instances and despatched countless emails to attempt to to get this sorted out – however not even their tech staff can work out why this has occurred.”

The precise motive for the ban is unknown – however Ms Mason stated they’ve skilled one thing comparable earlier than.

“Our predominant platform for the final seven years has been Fb,” she stated.

“Again in 2021, they did this to us as a result of their system had flagged the phrase ‘pig’ as a police hate crime.

“As a creator, in the event you do something that breaks group requirements, you might be routinely demonetised. You lose your supply of earnings.”

On the time, Fb accepted a mistake had been made and rectified the error.

However this time, to date, they haven’t been so fortunate.

Anybody with only one or two pets will know that caring for them is an costly pastime, so it’s no marvel that the payments for 130 animals can add up.

Ms Mason stated it prices “an enormous quantity” to pay for the care of their guinea pigs, with charges starting from housing and heating to meals and medical payments.

And that is earlier than even considering the price of rescuing animals that they put up for adoption.

“In February, we rescued 53 boys, and we bought all of them higher,” she stated.

“We bought all of them neutered, and we’re down to 2 now that we have got left to search out properties for out of the 53.

“We bought all of them well being checked a number of instances – if you wish to put a determine on that, that rescue price was about 5 and a half grand.”

They are saying their pets have both been rescued from dangerous conditions or taken on from different individuals – with some additionally bought, however they aren’t operating a charity or an animal rescue.

And the couple’s work has completed good for extra guinea pigs than simply their very own.

“The quantity of people who we have impressed to enhance the care of their guinea pigs is wonderful,” Ms Mason stated.

“Folks ship you photographs of the setups that they’ve made, that are a lot larger and so a lot better, they usually’re offering higher meals and higher high quality hay and spending extra time with them.

“I am so happy with that.”