GMTV - 15 year old with 97 pets!

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Has anybody else seen this?

This boy from Leicestershire has taken in 97 animals - a mixture of dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hens etc. Whilst in some ways its admirable to see a young lad so committed to his animals. Especially when you see so many of this age hanging around street corners with no regard whatsoever for anything or anybody, I really must question how anyone can look after this number of animals.

The presenter commented on how the rabbit/guinea pig shed did not smell at all as he keeps the animals really well, but I was concerned by the size of the hutches the animals were in.

When his mum was asked what she thinks about the number of animals he keeps she said he generally just sneeks another in rather than ask for permission, although she seemed happy about what he was doing.

Although I hate to critcise a teenager who seems generally a very caring young man. I have to question how anyone (young or older) can care properly for this number of animals.
 
Gee i hope the parents are wealthy enought to help feed and give proper vet care :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\
That's a heck of a lot of animals to care for.......... what happens when he gets to the higher years in schooling so much time is taken up with their studies.
But i also admire him, ahhhhhhhhhhh i hope he becomes a vet or something of the like :) :) :) :)
 
He was saying he gets up at 6 am to spend two hours feeding them all etc before school and then spends five hours every day after school cleaning them all out, but at his age he should be having quite a bit of homework and he must want time to socialise with mates too.

I question the parental guidance here. Its all very well saying he just sneeks another one in, but hey as a parent you are responsible for what your kids do.

In the shed, which looked fairly large, he had 30 rabbits and 22 guinea pigs! I didn't see any of the guinea pigs but you could see rabbits just sitting in what looked like very tiny hutches.

I saw this report in the news hour, between 6 and 7 this morning. I'm sure it will be repeated later in the programme.
 
I saw this too, I must admit I was a bit like ? Dont know how on earth he manages it, at 15 he'll be going into his GCSE's with coursework and I dont know how he can manage 5 hours after school :o The hutches looked tiny too, dont think thats the amout of room your supposed to have for them :-\
 
Oh dear :( :( :( :( small hutches, perhaps the RSPCA could come and give him some advice and help him out, he sounds like he wants to help but may need some guidance O0
mmmmmm does make you wonder why the parents haven't put their foot down so as what pets he did have were properly cared for ? ? ?
 
I've got 19 piggies - and the big man (Mr Schmichael) - and whilst I love them all dearly, its very hard work providing all that the need and I daren't add up what I have spent in vets bills!

Clearly this lads heart is in the right place and its lovely to see a young person so caring, but he really needs some guidance!
 
I agree, it's lovely to see a young lad caring for his animals (and rare), however what about when a girlfriend comes along, he gets his first car, wants to get a job/go to Uni or just simply be a normal teen - are the parents going to step up to the plate and look after his 97 animals and all the vet bills they will inevitably incur I wonder? :-\ Debbie, we only have four piggies at the moment but when even one of them is ill with the syringe feeding, medication etc its incredibly time consuming.
 
I also question the wisdom of a programme like GMTV endorsing something like this. Is it not going to send out the wrong message? Are others going to think its possible to care for so many animals? Such a difficult one, because the lad does deserve some praise for what he is doing and too often only negative things are reported about teenagers.

They asked him if he was going to stop at 97 and he said no, he would have more. From what he was saying he takes in unwanted animals but even so, it really is much more than a full time job!
 
I seen that this morning too! I think its brilliant what the young guy is doing but I agree I don't know how one person has the time/energy/money for looking after them all as well as trying to fit in school work/studying and friends. I'd noticed that the hutches were all a bit small - hopefully someone from the RSPCA will be watching and will go round to give him advice. Did he say where he was getting them all from? It seems a hell of a lot to get from people locally.
 
It made the word "hoarder" come to mind when I saw it. Those rabbit hutches were wasy to small for them. And I don't imagine he's able to give them any "out" time - I didn't see any runs in the garden.
I imagine he has the best of intentions and probably does his best, but I very much doubt that he is meeting the standards of the new animal welfare act.
 
Wow :o how can anyone let alone someone so young have enough time?! God I can't imagine what the vet bills must be like...I know how much i've spent and I've only got 7 in total! :-\ It comes to a point where yes, it may be a lovely thing that he's doing but is it actually beneficial to the animals?
 
I've got 10 piggies and 2 rabbits. We also have other animals - cat, dogs,fish ::) but they all require time, attention, love, not to mention the cost involved. Even if money was no problem I don't think I'd take on anymore as I can't devote the time nescessary to them
 
wow i find it hard looking after 5 :o i think its great that he is spending time with them and feeding them, but what about all the vet bills? food? veg? hay? must cost quite a bit :o

and like many of you have said the sizes of hutches are a worry :( hopefully the rspca have contacted him and given him some advice :)
 
its also on sky news website you can watch a video about it...He only live about 5 miles from me but i have not heard anything about him?


sue
xx
 
Hi

It was nice to see someone his age caring for animals, but what is going to happen, when he goes to college and university, who will look after the animals then, will they end up in other rescue centres.
I thought that the shed was dark and agree that the animals looked as they were in small cages.
Also the dogs were in kennels outside, they didn't look that large.
Wonder what the neighbours think, with them barking.
Also the 8 cats that he had, hope he has them all chipped and all have collars.
Would of liked to see the guinea pigs.
Perhaps gmtv should be contacted to ask a few more questions on this story.

Jaye
 
Wow that is alot of pets.....

i thought i had alot of pets

He is a good boy
xx
 
saw it on 5 news as i recall at some point tonight, said ti cost him £50 a week in food which he did extra jobs for & even headmaster was paying him £10 a month. Sounds like he's trying his best to help so easy to critisise or say it's not perfect but did seem OK
Si
 
I think its great hes doing it ~ Its not like hell be buying them all is it as he wont have the money to just buy them etc hes rescuing them and giving them a new home :) He might even rehome some you never no ;D
 
I've got to say I don't think it's a very good thing what he's doing, how can they each get the attention they need? Don't really understand how people can think thats a good idea! Yes to rescuing animals I'm not going against that but I know myself how busy it's gets with school and college. It's really unfair.

I blame the parents for letting him get away with it. Just because someone's got a good heart doesn't always mean they're doing the right thing.
 
The parents may be helping him and as long as he can afford them and look after them ok i dont see a problem with it :)
 
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