Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue

Here is a very inspirational story of how one of our members, wovendreams.artfire.com, began saving rabbits.

Story by Bonnie of wovendreams.artfire.com
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On my 13th birthday, my grandpa gave me a rabbit. He was a little “blue” gray and white dutch. No one in my family had ever had a rabbit. We all had to learn the basics from the start. My Dad built Lollipop, his first hutch. It was a grand home that we kept next to the side of the house. Being a military household, Lollipop moved with us from California to Kansas and then to North Carolina.

Lollipop often stayed in the house with us and had free reign until he started eating the cords. Mom still tells the story of how he chewed the telephone cord while she was still on the phone to her mother long distance.

He was a brave little boy. In the 1960’s we would never have thought of neutering a rabbit. Most people in the USA had never even thought of having a rabbit for a pet. They were considered to be similar to a guinea pig and were therefore kept in aquariums.

When I went off to college, the job of taking care of Lollipop went to my parents. We hadn’t thought about who would take care of the bunny at that time. That was fine with my parents because they loved him as much as I did. He was family.

It was much later that I brought a bunny in into my house again. I heard that there was a bunny at the Humane Society and nobody knew how to take care of him. I went to visit him and he was petrified in a cage in the cat building. I had to take him home. My children were thrilled. They were in middle and high school and wanted an additional pet to our dog.

That started numerous bunnies being rescued through my home. Whenever a bunny showed up at the Humane Society, I was called. After I adopted 3 rabbits for my family, I started looking for homes as the rabbits would come in. I advertised them through the veterinarian’s offices and the Humane Society. That was eleven years ago. Since then, I have rescued over 100 rabbits. I have files on every one of them. I now have each rabbit on PetFinder, BunSpace and the animal shelter’s web site. I network with many rabbit organizations and other rescues. This all helps find these bunnies find a family.

Through the years, my knowledge of bunnies has grown. I know personally each of the bunnies that I have worked with. I plead with each of you to adopt from a shelter instead of purchasing from a pet store or breeder. Your bunny rescue will already know their temperament and have them spayed/neutered. And, it is so rewarding to give an abandoned bunny a home.

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Bonnie of Woven Dreams runs Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue, is a foster home for Friends of the Pitt County Animal Shelter, aka Friends, that solely rescues rabbits. These rabbits consist of shelter turn ins, animal control and turn in by owners, in that order. The rabbits are spayed/neutered upon placement. The foster home and rescue runs only on donations. Bonnies is also part of the Rabbit Rehoming Alliance.

1 comment:

Bonnie said...

Great article! Thanks for writing about the rabbits and spread the word that rabbits are not a child's toy. Please resist buying one of those cute little baby bunnies in the pet store window. They make WONDERFUL companions but don't buy on impulse. Bunnies are a real, live, 10 year commitment.
Bonnie
Dance with the Bunnies Rabbit Rescue
ncrabbitmom@gmail.com
www.wovendreams.artfire.com