Pet-care prodigy holds Aroha for animals

Like many 13-year-olds, Aroha Cherrie loves animals. She cares for the chickens at the home she shares with her mother and brother in Redwoodtown. She also tends to rabbits, both her pets and those she breeds. When a guest arrives with a dog, she has treats on hand – made by her own two hands.

Unlike most, if not all other, 13-year-olds, Aroha already is turning her passion into a profession.

Aroha completed certification as a pet groomer and puts her learning into practice at Sally’s Grooming in Blenheim. (She’s regularly there on Thursdays.) Her education appetite whetted, she currently takes courses toward a veterinary assistant credential through The Career Academy, based in Christchurch, and is raising money to attend Future Vet Kids Camp in Melbourne next April.

She also runs a business. Under the name Little Hop Haven, from home, Aroha sells bunnies she breeds from a couple of rabbits she procured. She has those proceeds earmarked for a van to travel the country and groom pets along the way to cover expenses.

For good measure, she volunteers with the Kārearea Falcon Trust … and plays football on a Grade 13 boys’ team … and plays guitar … and, oh yeah, does her classwork. (Aroha and Alex, 11, are homeschooled.) Somewhere within a 24-hour day, she sleeps.

“I am very busy,” she observed, her tone neither ostentatious nor ironic. But at least Alex looks after the cat.

Turning point
Aroha, true to the meaning of her name, “has always had a love for animals,” proud mum Aimée Preston shared. That affection reached a new level when, at age 8, Aroha saved a critically injured rabbit.

Long story short, the family got a call from friends whose cat had dragged a weanling through their 20-acre property. Aroha researched how to render care and, in her mother’s words, “effectively loved this baby rabbit back to life.”

Loxey now is six and a beloved pet. He is not part of Little Hop Haven, whose papa and mama parented their first litter eight weeks ago. Of the 10 kits, nine have new homes.

Attending Future Vet Kids Camp will take her away from the menagerie, but the opportunity to dive into animal health alongside other motivated youth is worth it. Her fundraising efforts include selling dog biscuits and rabbit treats she makes; look for sachets soon at Springlands Veterinary Centre.

“Age doesn’t define dreams,” Aroha said, bringing a tear to Amy’s eye. “Anyone can do whatever; they just need to put in the work.”