The sound of cars speeding past the Cherry Valley exit sign rang out over a choir of chirping birds and rustling leaves as Claude Rains walked along the Newark-Granville bike path with his roommates and dog in tow.
During that walk on June 26 around noon, everything seemed business as usual.
But as they called it an afternoon and began to head back in the direction they came from, something was off.
Very off.
The grassy, green hill adjacent to route 16 was peppered with fur-covered pops of white, tan and black.
During Rains’ walk, someone had dumped at least eight guinea pigs off the side of the highway near the bike path.
“They weren’t there 20 minutes before when me and my roommates walked by,” Rains said. “Who just dumps a bunch of animals like that?”
Rains picked up his phone and immediately logged into Facebook. He snapped a picture of the approximate location where he saw the guinea pigs, and hit the post button.
Molly Fantini found the post 15 minutes after Rains had spotted the stray guinea pigs. Fantini sprung out of bed, hopped in her car and raced to the scene of the crime.
“They weren’t going to make it otherwise,” Fantini said. “If you can help, you should.”
Meanwhile, Rains had made the trek back to his home to drop off the dog. Shortly after, he pedaled back to the location of the guinea pigs on his bike to help embark on the search.
A dozen other people had joined the search by the time Rains returned, and had already located five of the stray guinea pigs. By the end of the day, at least 20 people had shown up to help and take the guinea pigs home with them.
Catching the guinea pigs was no easy task. Fantini was bewildered by how fast their little legs could carry the guinea pigs as they dashed away from helping hands trying to save them from the forest near the bike path.
Two teenage boys who joined in on the search were diving into the grassy hill, arms outstretched hoping to get a grip on one of the guinea pigs.
Other volunteers worked together in groups to effectively corner the guinea pigs, entrapping them so they had nowhere to run.
“As soon as you grab one, it screamed like it was dying,” Fantini said. “It sounds like they’re screaming bloody murder like (they’re) being hurt or something. But they were fine.”
And if finding loose guinea pigs off the side of the highway wasn’t shocking enough, rescuers were in for another surprise as they began catching the swift guinea pigs.
“Someone grabs one, and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh, she’s pregnant,’” Fantini recalled.
Two of the guinea pigs found were pregnant, Fantini said. After further examination of the lost guinea pigs, rescuers determined that three of the rescued pigs were adults and the rest of them were babies, only three months old according to one veterinarian.
At the end of the day on Thursday, Fantini and the group of local guinea pig rescuers had found seven guinea pigs in total.
But the search wasn’t over, even as day turned into pitch black night. But Fantini wasn’t deterred.
“We [were] going to find the last one,” she said, determined. “I started an event called the guinea pig search party. ”
When Fantini arrived the next morning at 9 a.m., Rains had already been crouched in the muddy brush of the bike path woods for two hours blasting guinea pig noises, trying to lure what was thought to be the last missing guinea pig.
After a few more volunteers began to arrive, they ventured into the forest. A few moments later, they found the last remaining guinea pig.
Unfortunately, she took off running.
“We have her going in between two bushes, and I see her run again, but not for the bush. And I’m like, this is my only chance,” Fantini said.
Fantini dove onto the muddy floor of the forest, reaching for the elusive guinea pig. Finally, she gets a hold on her, hands her to another volunteer, who drops her.
As the guinea pig plopped back onto the ground, too shocked to move, Fantini quickly scooped her back up.
The eighth, and hopefully last, guinea pig had been found.
“I’m covered in bug bites, but it was worth it,” Fantini said.
Fantini hopes that no more are still out there, but there is no telling.
“I’ll always think there’s one still in there. We can find 15, and I’ll still be like, I think there’s another,” Fantini said.
Rains is confident that all of the guinea pigs were found, especially after the extension of the search into Friday.
“(Out of) all of us that showed up, we don’t think any more guinea pigs showed up,” Rains said.
All of the guinea pigs found near the bike paths have new homes. Most of the guinea pigs that were found went home to people that showed up to rescue them. One of the pregnant guinea pigs went to a guinea pig expert, who will foster the guinea pig until she gives birth to her babies.
As for the culprit, rescuers do not yet have a clue as to who dropped the guinea pigs near the bike path. And while Fantini believes whoever it is should be charged with animal abuse, what matters to her most is that the guinea pigs are safe and sound.
“We found the important ones, which are the guinea pigs,” Fantini said.
Maddie Luebkert writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.