As seen on ITV's 'Britain's Got Talent and GMTV's 'Entertainment Today' May 2008
BBC's 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' January 2009

Animalgique is a mix of fantasy and illusion, depicting a world in which they would like to live

"So come with them to their world of magic and mystery, where man and animal live in peace and walk together without fear. Let them remind you of the beauty around as they take you in to the world of

Animalgique, gique, gique, gique, gique!"

Although welcoming television work with open arms, touring the show live would be far too stressful on their animal family, which consists of Dogs, Cats, Rabbits, Hares, Guinea Pigs, Gerbils, Rats, Hamsters, Chinchillas, Skunks, Snakes, Doves, Pigeons, Budgies, Parrots and Owls.

For Claire and Steve Lucock 'Animalgique' is not just a magic act, it is a way of life. All of their pets are inspected and approved by the R.S.P.C.A and Magic is quite simply a prop to show off the bond between them and their 160 plus animals.

At least 80 per cent of the Animals are rescue animals which have either been found. or are in need of medical attention. Due to this fact their pets soon get used to their own animal carrying cases and feel totally comfortable in short transit.

When devising a magic trick or illusion for one of their pets, the animals have to be as comfortable as they would be in their pet carrier. They all have plenty of room to move around and none of their pets are taught to perform, they are quite simply lifted out of the box and loved.
Out of the 160 plus animals only 20 of their current pets feature in the magic act. If any of the animals are nervous of the carrying case or show any sign of not wanting to be included, then they do not do it.

Although wishing to do television work, whether in magic or presenting, Claire and Steve's main ambition is to open a sanctuary where they can rescue and care for unwanted creatures in a kind and loving way in beautiful surroundings and hopefully show people the trusting bond that should be between man and animal.

Since first appearing on television Animalgique has literally been inundated with stray and unwanted animals, whether it be through people not being able to afford to keep them during the credit crunch or simply because the animal is no longer wanted.

Sometimes animals are simply dumped in a box on their door step, often terribly nervous and sometimes pregnant.

There are now nearly 60 rabbits some of which where born within days of the mother being left at the door step. All the animals are loved as part of the family, all have names and individual personalities and none of them are re-homed.

Due to the fact that there are so many cats in their home it is impossible to take on any dogs/puppies as this would destroy the harmony between the animals.

Saviour ‘The long haired German Shepherd' is the only rescued dog and even though he does not like most humans, he gladly welcomes and cares for all the creatures that live with him. The rabbits run up to him as he walks past their enclosures and he has been known to carefully pick one up and place it back in the hutch if a rabbit is out exercising and a strange noise is heard! He has caringly welcomed and helped to bring up 3 kittens in the last couple of years, 2 of which ‘Angelica & Misty' were at deaths door when they were rescued and it's down to him constantly cleaning and caring for them that they survived. Animalgique's home is jokingly referred to by their family as ‘Saviours Haven'. ( Below are ‘Saviour' and a few of the Cats ).


'Daisy'		'Pumpkin'

'Pipkin and Popcorn'	'Saviour' with 'Misty' & 'Angelica'	'Midnight'
	Their Children


'Jack' with 'Peaches' and 'Cream'	'Jessica' with 'Roly Poly'	'Elli' with 'Rusty' and Jeremy'

Rabbits

Many Rabbits now live with Claire and Steve, below are just a few of the Rabbits, hutches and rabbit runs all of which have to be fed, watered and cleaned on a daily basis through sunshine, rain and snow.

On one occasion two rabbits were left with us. We named them Destiny and Fortune. They were separated straight away as ‘Destiny' was female and ‘Fortune' was male. 2 weeks later Destiny gave birth to 5 beautiful babies.

Destiny and her Babies	Fortune

From Left to right:- Destiny, Mayhem, Mischief, Faith, Hope and Champagne. Fortune is pictured by himself.


‘ Loxy' in front and ‘Magic' behind.	‘ Caramel' and ‘Biscuit'	‘Rex' The Hare


Peanut'	‘Bobbin'	‘Fluffy'	‘Dumbo'	'Pepsi'

Steve cuddles ‘Patch' whilst Claire and Elli take care of the babies. ‘Cotton' ‘Bobbin' ‘Stitch' and ‘Thimble'.

Rats


‘Guss' and ‘Houdini'	‘Salt' ‘Pepper' and 'Spice'	‘Ali' and ‘Nipper'

Claire and Steve have taken in over 50 rats. All of which are deeply loved and petted on a daily basis.


‘Blink' Fizz-Bomb' ‘Nugget'	‘Fuzz-Ball'	'Squeak'	‘Rusty'

Claire and Steve have 7 rescued Guinea Pigs to date. ‘Blink' ‘Fizz-Bomb' ‘Nugget' ‘Rusty' ‘Fuzz-Ball' ‘Squeak' & ‘Uno'

Snakes

Snake's are now sold as pets to the public but unfortunately a lot of people do not know how to look after them properly.

Some snakes such as the Royal Python or Ball Python as it is sometimes known, can be difficult to feed and even when in the wild can suffer from Anorexia. Other snakes can grow to a great size and can be dangerous not just to other pets but to children and adults as well. Animalgique have 4 Snakes as part of their family. ‘Tiga' the Rosie Boa, ‘Chille' the Common Corn Snake, ‘Diabolis' the Royal Python and ‘Ice' The Albino Burmese Python.


‘Chilli'	‘Tiga'	‘Ice'

All of the snakes live in their own vivarium's away from the other pets. ‘Ice' however, is currently living with a local reptile expert.

Ice was only 6 inches long when he was taken in, but grew to 8ft with in 12 months. He was as thick as a car tyre and although he was well fed and never showed any signs of aggression, he could quite easily of killed and eaten any of the ‘Animalgique' family including the largest, being ‘Saviour' or ‘Steve'!

Claire and Steve still pay for ‘Ice's' food and upkeep. They Visit and pet him regulary until a time when they have a large enough sanctuary to house him safely and comfortably for the rest of his life.

Parrots

Parrots normally only take to one person in the family and can be aggressive to other family members. They can also be very noisy and cause problems with neighbours and for this reason animal sanctuary's are often asked to take them in.

This is very sad as parrots are like children and do tend to miss their owner and giving it away can cause stress and feather plucking which can lead to death.

The oldest parrots can live up to 140 years of age and people should only take on a parrot if they are 100% committed to it and can make arrangements for someone that the parrot is familiar with to care for it once they have passed away.

Claire and Steve have been offered many parrots but for space and ‘noise reasons' have so far only taken in two.


‘Harpo' the Green Winged Macaw'	‘Tequila' the Umbrella Cockatoo'

Owls

A lot of people always associate owls as being nocturnal but owls such as the ‘European Eagle Owl, ‘Little Owls' and ‘Snowy owls' hunt in the day time as well. ‘Teeny Tiny' the Female European Eagle Owl as seen on ‘Britain's Got Talent' and ‘The Sorcerers Apprentice' was rescued with her brother ‘Izzy Wizzy' at the age of 6 weeks old. Their identification rings had been attached above their knee joint as chicks and by the time Claire and Steve found them the rings had been embedded into their legs. A week later and the owls would have to have been put down as amputation was not an option.

Both owls were hand reared in the house. When doing TV work ‘Teeny Tiny' was only 6 months old. The box she came out of was especially designed for her. She had plenty of room to move around and was not tied into it all. She could quite easily of flown off if she had wanted to. She now lives in an aviary with her brother and is often taken around schools and private functions where she enjoys being stroked and petted. People very rarely see owls like this in the wild and forget they are there. By introducing them in a loving and friendly way people will hopefully remember them and want to do more for them and their environment in the future.

Claire and Steve also have 2 Barn Owls called ‘Peaches' and ‘Cream.' ‘Peaches' was always very confident as a chick but ‘Cream' was terrified and hid behind ‘Peaches', ‘Cream's' days were numbered as nobody wanted her which is why Claire and Steve took them on. Both owls now live in an aviary and do not work with ‘Animalgique' at all - their choice, but they're still handled on a daily basis.

‘Blizzard' the Snowy Owl, was taken on to save him being transported all the way to China. Since the ‘Harry Potter' films first appeared, parents have been buying Snowy Owls as pets for their children. They do not make good pets for children and are very difficult for adults to handle. ‘Blizzard' also does school visits and although his beauty is explained to the children, so are the down falls of keeping one.

‘99' and ‘Tupence' are two ‘Little Owls'. Obviously being small they can be very flighty and hard to handle. Both of these owls take it in turn to do school visits and the children learn how difficult it is for these birds to survive in the wild.

‘Boo Boo' The Boo Book Owl. These owls always look so small and cute as chicks and are often bought as pets. They are the common owl of Australia but unfortunately they are Hawk Owls and are mostly aggressive and tend to snatch with their sharp talons. This again is taught to children in schools in hope to teach them not to keep them as pets.


‘Teeny Tiny' and ‘Izzy Wizzy'	‘99' and ‘Tupence'	‘Cream' and ‘Peaches'


‘Blizzard'	‘Boo Boo'

Owls have always been the one of the most mystical of creatures and both Claire and Steve feel privileged to be able to work and live so close with them. Unlike other owls that are shown in bird of prey centres and handled frequently, these owls living with Claire and Steve are not tethered to stands. Their Jessies are removed straight away and they are kept as aviary birds. All of the birds are well fed so they do not have to work for food. They come to Claire and Steve in their aviaries to have their leashes fitted because they ‘want' to and not because they have to.

Not Forgetting

Pictured above are only a few of their animal family and it would be unfair not to mention all of their pets.

German Shepherd, friend and loyal companion - ‘Saviour'.

Cats - ‘Daisy' ‘Pumpkin' ‘Pipkin' ‘Popcorn' ‘Midnight' ‘Zodiac' ‘Misty' ‘Angelica' and little ‘Fisty-Cuffs'.

Parrots - ‘Harpo' and ‘Tequila'.

Snakes - ‘Chille' ‘Diabolis' ‘Tiga' and ‘Ice'.

Java Dove - ‘Valentine'.

Jacobean Pigeon - ‘Minstrel'

Hamsters - ‘Jeremy' ‘Mr Jingles' ‘Pom Pom' and ‘Fudge'.

Budgies - ‘Sky' ‘Cloud' and ‘Prince'.

Skunk - ‘Roly Poly'.

Owls - ‘Blizzard' ‘Boo Boo' ‘Peaches' ‘Cream' ‘99' ‘Tupence' ‘Teeny Tiny' and ‘Izzy Wizzy'.

Gerbils - ‘Eeny' ‘Meeny' and ‘Sandy'.

Chinchilla - ‘Chi Chi'.

Guinea Pigs - ‘Blink' ‘Fizz-Bomb' ‘Nugget' ‘Rusty' ‘Fuzz-Ball' ‘Squeak' & ‘Uno'.

Rats - ‘Gus' ‘Houdini' ‘Nipper' ‘Alli' ‘Salt' ‘Pepper' ‘Spice' ‘Rascal' ‘Quasi' ‘Laurel & Hardy' all the identical rats are simply called ‘Ratty' as they have no chance of recognising them from each other. All are handled, loved and will be named as their personalities grow.

Rabbits- ‘Thunder' ‘Lightening' ‘Eclipse' ‘Biscuit' ‘Faith' ‘Champagne' ‘Mischief' ‘Ying' ‘Yang' ‘Cotton' ‘Thimble' ‘Stitch' ‘Bobbin' ‘Fluffy' ‘Loxy' ‘Romeo' ‘Rex' ‘Magic' ‘Pepsi' ‘Caramel' ‘Hamish' ‘Max' ‘Dumbo' ‘Princess' ‘He-she'

‘Hope' ‘Fortune' ‘Ebony' ‘Onyx' ‘Mayhem' ‘Destiny' ‘Dougal' ‘Ermentrude' ‘Dillon' ‘Zebedi' ‘Patch' ‘Doc' ‘Sleepy' ‘Grumpy' ‘Bashful' ‘Happy' ‘Sneezy' ‘Dopey' ‘Flash' ‘Marble' ‘Slater' ‘Chalky' ‘Pebbles' ‘Peanut' ‘Pepper' ‘Frosty' and ‘Bovril'

Claire and Steve

would like to take this opportunity to thank the following.

‘Harvey's Pet Shop' in Blyth. Harvey and his family have donated so much food, straw and hay. Without their help and support they would not have been able to cope.

‘Millers Fruit And Veg Shop' in Blyth. Fruit and vegetables have a sell by date and then it can not be sold even though they are still perfectly good to eat. Normally all this wasted food has to be thrown away but thankfully ‘Millers' save it all for them in order for their animals to maintain a varied and healthy diet.

‘Fergusons Blyth LTD T/A Fergy Space' with so many ilusions, magic props, costumes and electrical equipment, Claire and Steve were fast running out of space. Fergusons very kindly donated a 40ft out door container plus an indoor storage unit at their newly built indoor storage facility ‘Fergy Space' on Northumberland Business Park West, Cramlington, Northumberland. NE23 7RH. 0191 250 2 250

The indoor facility can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and it's security is second to none.

Thanks to these facilities being donated, Claire and Steve have had more space to house their animals.

‘Quay 2 Media' based at 2a Union Quay, Northshields, NE30 1HJ, Antonia and Christian have proved to be invaluable.

They have helped Claire and Steve endlessly by raising their profile in order to get publicity and donations for the animals.

They have also designed and organised the printing of advertising materials plus helped with business link and the ‘Fergusons' connection.

If anybody wishes to help or donate to the animals, Antonia and Christian can be contacted on 0191 296 6800

Their good friends ‘Olly' (children's entertainer - 0191 2575527) and ‘Philip' (Capellis Hairdressing Salon in Blyth - 01670 360376)

These two wonderful people have been a great support to Claire and Steve over the past few years not just with sponsorship but with all the help and advice they have given.

Finally

Their Parents and family for all their financial and emotional support