Karen O'Leary is back with her biggest (and smallest) issue to date - guinea pigs.
When Rob Playford of Nelson adopted guinea pigs for his daughter's first pet, he was shocked to learn they needed to be kept in pairs for their mental wellbeing, but there is no law or rule to make sure it happens.
"They're used to living in groups of 10 in the wild," animal expert Dr Kristie Cameron told O'Leary. "So living alone is not part of their behavioural repertoire"
There are 38,000 guinea pigs kept as pets in New Zealand and approximately 10 percent of those are being kept alone - which many owners might not realise is tantamount to animal abuse.
A lonely guinea pig can suffer from depression and other health problems.
Playford - who would want to be called Bert if he were a guinea pig - tasked O'Leary with fixing this issue, a duty she was happy to take on for her new best friends.
After a visit to chat with some guinea pigs at Nelson's iconic Wendelton guinea pig Village, the comedian decided to replicate what a solo guinea pig was feeling by going undercover the best way she knows how.
"I'm going to spend 24 hours alone in the basement of Three," she decided.
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After confining herself to a hay-filled cage for a traumatic overnight experience, a deeply shook O'Leary has doubled down on her ambition to make a better Aotearoa for lonely guinea pigs.
Reaching out to popular guinea pig sale point TradeMe, O'Leary asked the online giant to help her out by adding a line to their guinea pig section saying the animals are incredibly social and should be kept in pairs or groups.
TradeMe declined to help.
A trip to Parliament was then in order for a meeting with the Minister in charge of Animal Welfare Jo Luxton.
When asked if guinea pigs could be explicitly protected under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, the minister said it was unlikely, however could see a way forward.
"I think if guinea pigs became as popular as cats and dogs as pets, then in could be worth having a conversation with NAWAC (National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee)," Luxton said.
With TradeMe and the law not being able to help, it was up to New Zealand's second largest pet store chain Petstock to step in and help.
Welcoming O'Leary into their stores and wanting to help guinea pigs as much as they could, the national chain agreed to create and distribute large decal stickers to all their stores informing customers the rodents should be adopted in pairs or groups.
A big success not only for Karen's Community Investigations, but for the social life of guinea pigs everywhere.
If you have an issue you would like Karen to help with, email issues@paddygower.co.nz.
Patrick Gower hosts Paddy Gower Has Issues - watch it on Three or ThreeNow.
