Page 7 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Phoebe saw Sam ride into the yard and dismount and take off Ninja’s tack. Sweat from the horse’s back sent clouds of steam rising into the morning air. Spotting her and Lily, Sam waved. He looked rosy cheeked and not in the least bit tired.

‘Nice ride?’ she called across.

‘Great, thanks.’

Briefly, she envied him, escaping into the peace of the forest. She berated herself. Sam deserved some time to himself, and he got precious little of it lately.

A few minutes later, with Lily safely handed over, Phoebe strolled around Puddleduck Pets.

As well as dogs and cats, there were geese and puddle ducks.

It was a puddle duck, back in the mists of time, that had given the farm its name, and apparently as long as they had one in situ the place would always be lucky.

Maggie had been very insistent about that, and Phoebe had no intention of arguing with her grandmother.

No one who knew Maggie would have been optimistic enough to think they could win an argument with her – not when it involved an animal.

Besides which, Phoebe loved the old lady far too much to question something she felt so strongly about.

There were also four donkeys that shared a field with Ninja. Maggie had started the place with donkeys, or neddies as she called them, and had somehow never got round to rehoming them.

Natasha was talking to some volunteers by the kennels when Phoebe caught up with her. She broke off and came across when she saw Phoebe.

‘Hey, how’s it going? Where’s the little one?’

‘With her daddy. How are you?’

‘I’m good, thanks.’ She gestured towards the group of volunteers she’d just left. ‘We’ve been talking about keeping wildlife as pets.’

‘Really? What sparked that off? Was it Bumble?’

‘No, actually, although I may have some news on him as well. Remind me to tell you that in a minute…’ She paused.

‘One of those ladies’ neighbours has got a barn owl.

She found it when it was injured apparently, nursed it back to health but decided not to let it go again and now it lives in her shed.

They’ve just been discussing the pros and cons. ’

Phoebe gasped. ‘Are there any pros? For the owl, I mean?’

‘That’s what I said. But the woman won’t listen apparently. She thinks the owl’s fine chained up to a perch in her shed as long as she feeds it. That lot are thinking of staging a break-out when she’s at work. Project Owl Release.’

‘Blimey. That’s radical.’

‘I think it’s essential.’ Natasha’s eyes grew serious.

‘It’s cruel keeping a wild thing captive.

Wildlife need a voice. And if we don’t speak out for them, who will?

’ Her cheeks flushed. ‘It annoys me that people keep animals so they can video them and show them off on TikTok just to get views and loads of flaming “likes”. And talking of likes, did you hear about that influencer who took a baby wombat from its mother in Australia? Just for a video! That one backfired. She had to leave the country due to the backlash on social media.’

‘I saw that on the news. It’s sad.’

‘Yes, it is.’ Natasha flicked a hand through her dark fringe and forced a smile. ‘Sorry for dumping all of that on you when you just came out for a catch-up. You caught me at the wrong moment.’

‘It’s fine. You’re right. Wildlife do need a voice. You said you had some news on Bumble?’

‘That’s right, I do.’ She brightened. ‘I found a woman who runs a hedgehog rescue. Only on a small scale in her back garden. But she’s offered to take him. She’s got a shed and a heated vivarium.’

‘That’s nice of her.’

‘Yes, it is. Marcus told me Bumble wasn’t the first. That you’d had other APHs turning up in the surgery lately. They’re wildlife too, really, aren’t they? They’re not pets to be shown off. It makes me mad.’

‘Me too,’ Phoebe confessed. ‘And I want to do something about it. I’ve been thinking a lot about the African pygmy hedgehogs – er, APHs – but maybe it’s a bigger issue than just exotic pets. Maybe it’s wildlife in general. I was talking to Seth about it the other day. And Sam.’

Natasha nodded. ‘I heard about that. Marcus thinks it’s a question of education.

And he might be right. Because it’s thoughtlessness as much as anything.

People don’t think things through and they can be flaming selfish.

As we know with this lot.’ She spread her hands out to encompass the kennels and yard.

‘They get a cute little kitten or puppy or rabbit without considering the future at all, and then when it becomes a problem they dump it on us.’

‘To be fair, there’s a lot of nice thoughtful people around as well.’

‘Yes, I know there is.’ Natasha stuck her hands in her coat pockets. ‘That’s my cynical head. It’s definitely getting cooler, isn’t it? Shall we walk round and I can give you an update on everyone?’

‘Great.’ Phoebe whistled for Roxie, who was sniffing about around the five-bar gate that led towards the cattery, and the dalmatian trotted across.

‘We may as well start with the cats,’ Natasha said as they made their way past the barn to the cattery block. ‘It’s been a good week for cats. We’ve rehomed seven and only taken in two.’

‘Seven, that’s amazing.’

‘Four of them were kittens, but that still counts.’ There was a smile in her voice. Phoebe was relieved she was back to her usual sunny self.

‘I had a woman come in yesterday who’d lost a cat too, I mean, as in she’d moved house and he’d legged it. She’s fairly local. She was anxious to see if anyone had brought him in.’

‘Had they?’

‘No, unfortunately, but it’s possible they will. She left a card with her details on. Marcus said we could put it up on the notice board in the surgery.’

‘Of course we can. Has he been lost long?’

‘A week so hopefully he’ll turn up. She moved from the other side of the forest and the woman who bought her house said she’ll keep an eye out for him too. He’s a big tom so he might have gone wandering. That’s not unheard of.’

‘Talking of big toms, how’s Saddam?’ Phoebe asked after the half-feral cat who’d been one of her longest and most infamous residents before Natasha and Marcus had rehomed him at Woodcutter’s.

‘He’s having a great time keeping down the rat population in our little bit of the forest. Marcus says I should stop him, but I’ve never been that fond of rats.

Besides which I’m not sure putting a bell on his collar’s going to do much.

He’s far too smart. He gets through cat collars quicker than we get through hot dinners.

We often find them hanging on tree branches in the garden.

Sam saw him once, rubbing his neck against a tree branch until he managed to hook off his collar. ’

Phoebe laughed. ‘That sounds like Saddam.’

They went into the cattery block and Natasha ran through the current residents, none of which had been there that long.

‘Also, I’ve got a fundraising idea,’ Natasha added as they came out again. ‘It’s to do with the neddie field. Shall we go there next and I’ll show you?’

A few minutes later they were standing at the five-bar gate that bordered the field.

In the distance, one of the little group of donkeys, who were all grazing together, raised her head.

It was Diablo, Phoebe saw with a smile. He was Maggie’s favourite and was known for his escapee tendencies.

Phoebe had once found him and the others in Rufus Holt’s back garden when the fence had blown down during a storm.

It had been her first introduction to Rufus and Archie.

Getting the donkeys off Rufus’s pristine lawn hadn’t been a good introduction either.

Thankfully a lot had changed since then.

Ninja was on the far side of the field, but he’d spotted the humans too, and both horse and donkeys were now trotting across the short cropped yellowing grass to see if there were treats on offer.

‘Do you remember when Maggie was planning to convert part of the neddie field into a secure dog field so she could hire it out to dog owners by the hour?’ Natasha asked conversationally.

‘Yes, I do. She even went as far as getting the planning permission for it and for the new access gate on the road. She didn’t do it in the end though, did she? I’m not sure what stopped her.’

‘It was the cost of the fencing, I think.’ Natasha ran her hand over the five-bar gate.

‘It was astronomical, and she didn’t think there’d be enough demand to justify the expenditure.

She didn’t think she’d be able to charge enough either.

She didn’t think people would pay much to use a field when they’ve got the whole forest to walk their dogs in. ’

‘That’s right. I remember.’ Ninja had reached them just before the donkeys, and Phoebe stroked his neck, while Natasha retrieved some carrot slices from her pocket.

‘Demand’s got a lot higher since then,’ Natasha continued as she distributed carrot slices to five interested parties. ‘I’ve been talking to a few dog owners lately. Loads of people use dog fields these days for all different reasons.’

‘Go on…’

‘Romanian rescues with no recall. To be fair, it’s not just Romanian rescues, it’s any dogs that don’t come back when they’re called.

Or dogs that don’t like other dogs because they weren’t socialised properly as puppies because of Covid.

Or dogs that are scared of other dogs, or dogs that are fine with other dogs but whose owners are worried other dogs might be a problem.

There’s a lot of those around too.’ Natasha paused for breath.

‘Marcus says it’s usually the owners who are the problem, not the dogs, but the outcome is the same.

There are lots of people who don’t want to let their dogs run free unless they’re in a contained area and they can guarantee getting them to come back. ’

‘But how much are they prepared to pay for this? That was definitely another one of Maggie’s concerns. She didn’t think she’d be able to charge more than a pound or two a go.’

‘I’ve checked out the going rate and we could charge at least ten or twelve pounds per one-hour slot.

If we get booked up a lot, and I think we would, that could work out really well.

Even in the winter there’s quite a few hours of daylight.

We could advertise to your customers in the practice as well as Puddleduck Pets. ’

She sounded so enthusiastic that Phoebe was loath to burst her bubble by mentioning the cost of the fencing. It would take an awful lot of ten-pound slots to pay for that before they started making a profit.

It was lovely standing there in the morning sunshine feeding the donkeys titbits and making plans. She watched Ninja, who’d ambled away again and was grazing a few feet away, the sweat patches where his saddle had been still in evidence on his back.

‘It’s not as though we use the field much in summer either,’ Natasha said. ‘We always fence it off temporarily because the grass is too rich.’

‘That’s very true. I’ve thought about getting a couple of liveries in,’ Phoebe said. ‘Maggie mentioned that too. But they’d have to come through the yard, and it’s busy enough already without having any more cars in and out. That could be a problem with hiring it out as a dog field too.’

Diablo nudged Natasha’s pockets and she gave him another slice of carrot. ‘Not if we put in a new access gate on the road like Maggie was planning. If we had a little pull-in area for a couple of cars it would work.’

‘You’re right. It would. We’d need insurance as well but I could shop around for that.’

‘I haven’t told you the best bit yet.’ Natasha took a deep breath.

‘Sarah, one of the owl rescue team I was chatting to earlier, just happens to be married to a fencer. That’s what we were talking about before we got onto the owl.

And she thinks he’ll do it for a knock-down price.

They’ve got two Romanian rescues, Romi and Lunar.

They adore their dogs and she was lamenting the fact they have to drive miles to the nearest dog field where they can let them off their leads.

They’d love a field locally they can take him.

So they’ve got an ulterior motive. We could do some sort of a deal, couldn’t we?

A lifetime of free use of the field for their dogs, in return for doing everything at cost.’

‘That’s a genius plan. Would he really do that?’

‘Sarah was sure he would.’

Phoebe nodded thoughtfully as she looked out at the field and visualised how it would be split in two as Natasha had suggested. She was right. If they put in an extra bit of fencing down by the road to create a pull-in for cars, it would work perfectly as a dog field.

‘Let’s ask him to give us a quote. Feel free to negotiate with him about the free dog field for life deal. And please be careful with Project Owl Release. You don’t want to get arrested for trespass or worse.’

Natasha grinned. ‘We’ll be very careful. I promise.’