Why guinea pigs are eaten, judged and even have songs in Peru

Guinea pigs are usually thought of as cute little fluffy sociable rodents that make the ideal first pet for kids.

But in Peru, they're a sacred animal; there's even guinea pig festivals where songs are sung about them and they're judged.

They're also eaten widely across the country and are bred and sold for money.

Guinea pigs were a sacred animal of the Incas, a tribe which originated from Peru in the 13th century and spread across South America, and were traditionally used in medicine, religion and as food.

Peruvians still consider guinea pigs to be sacred to this day; the second Friday of October every year is their national guinea pig day.

Nottingham-based filmmaker Sharon Walia travelled to the South American country in 2022 to find out more about the sacred animal as part of the first ever documentary into guinea pigs, called The Keepers of Pigs, and said the experience was simply 'surreal'.

Speaking to Indy100, Sharon said: "We landed in Lima and went straight out to film an elderly couple who have a guinea pig farm where three tonnes of guinea pig poo are produced every month to power their home!

"We then went to a week-long guinea pig festival in Cajamarca and I've never seen anything like it.

"It started with a song competition which was something like the X-Factor; the third song was about the singer's memories of her mother seasoning a guinea pig.

"There was judging and a lot of them being eaten - having my favourite animal cooked in front of me wasn't great though.

"It's taken really seriously, it was surreal - at one point we even ended up in an Irish guinea pig themed bar called McCuys!"

Guinea pigs being judged at a festival in PeruSharon Walia

Guinea pigs are called cuys in Peru.

"There were pictures of guinea pigs as leprechauns, I felt like half the time I was hallucinating and was questioning what was happening!" Sharon said.

Inside McCuy's bar in CajamarcaSharon Walia

While she was there, Sharon said after 20 years in the making, a new breed of guinea pig called Inka started to be reared and sold.

She said: "Women there make a lot of money out of breeding and selling them and there's now a new breed of guinea pig that gains weight more quickly so they can be sold within weeks to make rapid money.

"It took them so long to do it - so many different breeds were bred to get the perfect mix.

"This makes them money by selling the meat to restaurants so they can afford to send their kids to school.

"As a guinea pig lover and vegan myself, I found this all difficult - but you've got to be honest and make an educational film, it's not my place to say if they should or shouldn't be doing that."

A new breed of guinea pig called Inka is being soldSharon Walia

It's not just Peru the lovable animal has an impact though - in the UK, Sharon spoke to a guinea pig lover called Jme, who features in the documentary.

Sharon said: "He attributes guinea pigs to getting him through his divorce.

"Jme was eventually sent across the globe judging guinea pig shows - it shows just how much pets and guinea pigs can mean to people.

"It was life-changing for him, he was going through one of the hardest things anyone can go through in their lives, to judging shows around the world.

"It's amazing to see these animals have saved people."

Sharon, second from left, in PeruSharon Walia

The idea for the documentary stemmed from reporting on a guinea pig sanctuary in Nottingham that was overrun with unwanted and neglected pets which went viral online.

"Guinea pigs were becoming like the new meerkats and the more I looked into it, the more I saw this hidden world that no-one seemed to have covered before," said Sharon.

A family of guinea pigs in PeruSharon Walia

More and more guinea pigs seem to be being abandoned across the UK - the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons reported animal welfare charity RSPCA recorded a 40 percent rise in cases in 2023 compared to 2022.

237 guinea pigs were found abandoned by RSPCA from the start of 2023 to the end of August that year - the same number for the whole of 2022.

There is a recent high-profile case of a guinea pig being abandoned outside a Tube station in Canning Town with a note which said: "I need a new owner."

Sharon said: "People call Britain a nation of animal lovers but I don't think there's enough education when it comes to buying them.

"They don't naturally make vitamin C like humans do and they need to be cleaned out more than once-a-week.

"The education isn't there and sadly, people give up on them - so many are kept in unsanitary conditions."

The Keepers of the Pigs (guinea pig documentary coming 2023) OFFICIAL TRAILERwww.youtube.com

The Keepers of Pigs is being shown at Picture House Central in London at 6pm on March 28, including a Q&A with Sharon too.

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