Reward for information on animal massacre

We are seeking any information to help police find who committed the horrendous attack on our livestock at Djanbung Gardens yesterday morning. We want to thank the Nimbin police for their prompt response–this is a serious crime and they are working hard to find the perpetrator. Outraged members of the public have offered to pay a reward to anyone providing information that leads to a conviction.

We have just received news that PETA is also offering a substantial reward.

Wednesday morning, December 14 we were deeply distressed to find six dead chickens. We’ve had the odd predator casualty over the years from carpet snakes, dogs and foxes, but nothing like this. There were two headless carcasses in the chook house, one in a bamboo clump and three in the nearby pig house. The chicken’s door latch was damaged, however all gates and doors were closed. The pig had also suffered injuries to her face and back hip.

I phoned the Nimbin police, who came promptly to inspect the scene. They were shocked and are taking it very seriously– even more so after the vet’s inspection and assessment of what happened in the afternoon.

The police recommended I promptly post the incident on Nimbin Hookups on Facebook to alert the community, Soon the phone started ringing for interviews, first the Northern Star, then a newspaper and radio station on the Gold Coast and the Echo. We were busy organising the cleaning up the carnage and preparing to bury the chickens.

As the day unfolded the full horror of the incident deepened.

On closer inspection we discovered the six dead chickens had been shockingly brutalised. We later discovered another live injured chicken with a smashed beak, broken, split and sticking out sideways. With great sorrow we had to put her down. That made a total of seven chickens mortally abused. We have eight chickens left, so nearly half our flock has been lost.

The worst however is what was done to dear Polly the pig.

When the incident was first discovered, we saw she had several injuries on her face, snout and on her right flank. She came out of her house for breakfast and went back to bed. An hour after the police had gone, she came out of her house again and we saw that she’d started bleeding from her vulva, was obviously in great pain and unsteady on her back legs. We noticed swelling on various parts of her body. We called the vet, who eventually arrived mid-afternoon.

The vet confirmed our worst fears, Polly had been penetrated with something and beaten badly on her flanks and rump, evidenced by the multiple bruises and swelling. He gave her two injections, antibiotics and a painkiller and was very hopeful she’d recover.

This incident has violated more than Djanbung Gardens, it is a violation of the community.

How can you help? We have had so many people ask this question over the past 24 hours. Here are some suggestions

Information from locals for police: The perpetrator would have left here early Wednesday morning. Don’t know if they were on foot or in a vehicle. If you know something that can help please contact Djanbung Gardens 6689 1755 or the Nimbin Police 6689 1244

People are offering donations to help cover costs. We are going to have to invest in surveillance cameras for the farm. A neighbour has generously offered a surveillance camera kit, plus we’ll be needing to buy some battery operated cameras to install in the animal area and other parts of the property. There are vet bills to pay and we have lost valuable heritage poultry worth several hundred dollars. Donations can be made to our account at Summerland Credit Union BSB 728-728 Account # 22299449 Account name: Djanbung Gardens. Please identify your donation “For Polly”

Fundraising Solstice event. Come and support our annual Solstice celebration on Wed 21st Dec from 5pm. We invite the community to come together in love, respect, solidarity and mutual support to clean the dark shadow that has fallen here this week. The solstice door donations were originally intended to support costs of setting up the artisans workshop and forge for Forgotten Arts. We now propose sharing the proceeds between vet costs for Polly, a surveillance camera for the artisan workshop as well as kick-starting the monthly Repair Cafes next year.

The Djanbung team thanks the community, our friends and former students from all over the world, for your outpouring of support during this traumatic event. We are still in shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

Dear Polly is recovering and we hope her trust in human kind will be restored.

Robyn Francis, December 15, 2016

About Polly. Polly is a valued member of Djanbung Gardens. She’s gentle, tame and well trained, loves people and being lavished love and attention. I trained her to sit for treats – pigs will do (almost) anything for food. She dances in circles when she’s being fed. She a very sweet and adorable animal. I take her for walks around the farm, sometimes just for fun, sometimes to clean up fallen fruit and a few times a year she goes to ‘work’ digging up some specially fences garden beds ready for new season planting. Everybody that meets and interacts with Polly is captivated by her lovable nature. One of our volunteers loved her so much they created Polly’s blog on our website.

Polly came to Djanbung Gardens in 2005 when she was just 4 months old. She’s now over 11 which is very old in pig years.