Guinea pig dwelling in money crunch after Facebook funding row

A pair who take care of 130 guinea pigs say they worry the pets could need to be rehomed after all of the sudden – and unexpectedly – dropping the earnings they comprised of Facebook.

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

Ms Mason informed the Daily News rehoming the guinea pigs was “a real possibility” after their capacity to boost cash on the platform was eliminated with out warning.

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

“They’ve banned us from everything,” Ms Mason mentioned.

“We can’t earn any kind of income whatsoever, it’s all gone – you end up thinking, god, what am I going to do?”

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

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

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

“Apparently I’ve broken a rule, but it hasn’t told me what the rule is,” she mentioned.

“I’ve spoken to to the tech people at Facebook a couple of times and sent endless emails to try and to get this sorted out – but not even their tech team can work out why this has happened.”

The precise cause for the ban is unknown – however Ms Mason mentioned they’ve skilled one thing related earlier than.

“Our main platform for the last seven years has been Facebook,” she mentioned.

“Back in 2021, they did this to us because their system had flagged the word ‘pig’ as a police hate crime.

“As a creator, if you happen to do something that breaks group requirements, you’re mechanically demonetised. You lose your supply of earnings.”

At the time, Facebook accepted a mistake had been made and rectified the error.

But this time, so far, they have not been so lucky.

Anyone with just one or two pets will know that caring for them is an expensive hobby, so it is no wonder that the bills for 130 animals can add up.

Ms Mason said it costs “an enormous quantity” to pay for the care of their guinea pigs, with fees ranging from housing and heating to food and medical bills.

And that’s before even taking into account the cost of rescuing animals that they put up for adoption.

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

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

“We got them all health checked multiple times – if you want to put a figure on that, that rescue cost was about five and a half grand.”

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

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

“The amount of people that we’ve inspired to improve the care of their guinea pigs is amazing,” Ms Mason mentioned.

“People send you photos of the setups that they’ve made, which are so much bigger and so much better, and they’re providing better food and better quality hay and spending more time with them.

“I’m so pleased with that.”