Redbird the Guinea Pig is in the finals for a national Cadbury Bunny commercial
Mar. 11—TERRA ALTA — A guinea pig that knew only neglect and tragedy before she found a new home in West Virginia is now among the pets hoping to star in the next Cadbury Bunny commercial.
Jennifer Wilson of Terra Alta, a community in Preston County, spotted the guinea pig she would name Redbird while she was visiting the Facebook page created by the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue.
"She was part of a hoarding situation in Baltimore County (Maryland)," Wilson recalled. "Animal control seized a huge number of small animals and Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue seized 36 guinea pigs."
Wilson was moved by Redbird's plight when she learned about her past.
"Well, I've had guinea pigs for most of my life and I follow the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue on Facebook; and when they first posted her picture, she was so sad," Wilson recalled. "And she was actually so depressed that even though she was blind, she would sit facing a corner and she wouldn't move. She'd just sit there. She didn't want to face the world. and when I saw her photo, I knew that I could make her happy."
Wilson had to wait five months to bring Redbird after telling the rescue that she wanted to adopt her.
"She was so sick. She was malnourished. They had to syringe nutrient-dense food into her," Wilson stated. "It's a special thing for guinea pigs that has what they need and you can kind of force them to eat it. She was very bad, yes, yes."
Redbird had to face loss as well as malnutrition when she arrived at the animal rescue.
"When she got to the rescue, she gave birth to two pups that were born dead and being blind, she searched and searched the cage for them. You see a lot of horrible things in rescue, but the director said that was the most pitiful thing she had ever seen," Wilson said.
Despite the neglect she had endured, Redbird soon started learning to love life again when Wilson brought her home in June 2021.
"Once I was able to bring her home, it seemed like everything changed for her. We have a very large guinea pig set up and she started running around the cage," Wilson stated. "It almost felt like to me like she felt like she was getting a new start. She had been at the rescue, so she had been getting very good care, but it seemed to me like she knew she was getting a new home."
Redbird's cage has special features so she will feel comfortable despite her blindness.
"She ran all through the cage and since she can't see, she kind of clucks. It's a kind of clucking, clicking noise that she makes," Wilson said. "She is blind, but she doesn't know it because nobody has told her. and she's so feisty and bossy. Oh yes, she is."
Wilson lined Redbird's home with baby bumper pads so she would meet something soft if she bumped her nose into a corner. and she has a bowl with an extended bottom so she can find it with her feet.
And Redbird isn't alone in her home. She has a roommate.
"She has a best friend who lives with her and her name is Pippi, and she makes Redbird great," Wilson said.
Wilson and her husband, Perry, have a title for Pippi.
"My husband and I like to say that Pippi is her seeing eye pig," she added.
Redbird gets a lot of extra attention because she's blind, but Pippi's needs are important, too. Sometimes Pippi, who is a rescued guinea pig, too, is the one who decides that her best friend needs some extra attention.
"One time she was asleep and we gave Pippi a treat to make her feel special and she ate half of it and went and woke up Redbird so she could have the other half," Wilson said.
The treat was a cookie made especially for guinea pigs. Unlike humans, guinea pigs are good about not eating things that are bad for them.
Now a contest Cadbury Chocolate runs could put Redbird in the national limelight.
"Well, about five years ago they started the annual Bunny Search and at the end for the last five years there has been a winner that gets to be in a national commercial," Wilson said. "I have entered my guinea pigs before, but then on Monday of last week I received an email that I was a semifinalist. I had two days to create a video to see if she would move on to the finals; and, of course, she did and now she's up to being voted on."
People can vote daily for Redbird through March 14.
"You go to www.cadburytryouts.com and just click on the picture of Redbird and you can vote daily," Wilson said, adding that the Hershey Corporation, which owns Cadbury, has confirmed that Redbird is the first ever finalist from West Virginia.
"If she wins, she will get to be in this year's commercial and she would bring in $5,000 for her family and $5,000 to the rescue that she was adopted from," Wilson stated. "I know this sounds odd, but I really want this more for the rescue than for myself."
Redbird now has the feistiness that makes West Virginians proud.
"She was certainly adopted the tenacity that West Virginians have," Wilson said.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
