Sonia Unicombe, who runs our reception area
and gift shop, is not, by her own admission, a raptor fanatic -
animals with fur are more her scene. So here is her run-down of
some of the non-feathered pets belonging to the Hawk Conservancy
Trust staff (there are too many to include in this one article,
so the others will be listed in a future issue).
Sonia's dog Meg
Meg is my dog, or should I say our
dog. She’s fine with me, but if Barry is with us then it’s
certainly ‘one man and his dog’. We rescued Meg in
April 1999 (on Ashley’s Birthday!) and we think she was
about two years old. She had been rescued from a puppy farm in
Wales and had a seven day notice on her. She has turned into a
cracking pet, great time waster, but terrible in the car –
all she seems to want to do is chase vehicles going the other
way.
Jane Baugh's dog
Poppy
Poppy belongs to Jane Baugh, the park’s Secretary,
and was also rescued, at eight months. She is a lovely looking
‘allsort’ variety. Poppy has lots of good habits with
only one failing – she’s really vocal in the car;
the further she travels, the higher the noise.
Lenny 'helping' in
the office!
Lenny is Anya Rodgers our Finance Manager’s dog and is
yet another rescue case. He was found as a stray at about eight
months and has now reached the ripe old age of five years. He
spends his time on the park with Anya and is always the first
one to give you a greeting when entering the office, but his major
priority is to shadow Anya at all times.
Bella on her favourite
armchair
Bella, a little Jack Russell, is Hilary Smith’s
pride and joy. Bella started her time at the park with Campbell
Murn, together with his other two dogs, Daphne and Sam. But Bella
used to take great pleasure in winding up and upsetting the other
two dogs, so several years ago Hilary looked after Bella in the
house for a trial period, and they have stayed together ever since.
Apparently Bella makes and excellent lap dog! Incidentally, Daphne
and Sam are now with Campbell in Australia and both doing well.
Phil's parrot, Captain
Flint
Captain belongs to Phil, my colleague in the gift shop, although
some would say that Phil’s pet is really Hazel! Captain
is a real senior citizen, he originally lived at the park during
the days of the Weyhill Zoo and has been with Phil now for over
twenty years. Captain, or to give him his full title, Captain
Flint, is an African Grey Parrot and must be about fifty-seven
or fifty-eight years of age.
Snoopy
Kim Kirkbride has Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Mouse, Goose, Ruby,
Maisie and Blitz - more four-legged friends but this time not
all dogs. Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Mouse and Goose are our feline
friends and Ruby, the most ferocious of the group, is a little
guinea pig. At her Dad’s home are Kim’s dog Maisie,
her horse Blitz and two garter snakes, which easily makes Kim
the winner for the largest number of pets!
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