What's New? at House Rabbit Society November 2003


** More Than 100 Rabbits Rescued in Sacramento! **

In the spring of 2003, Sacramento, CA authorities closed a
pet store due to sub-standard conditions. Puppies, dogs and
cats were confiscated and the shelters were overflowing.
The authorities then went to the store owner's home to
confiscate even more dogs - and they also found about 90
purebred Mini Rex rabbits that the man was hiding in a
container.

Initially, authorities allowed the man to keep about half of
the rabbits, as they were in good health (he just had too
many of them). The 45 confiscated rabbits were taken to the
SPCA. However, weeks later, the store owner was charged with
other infractions related to the care of the pet store animals,
and the SPCA returned and took the rest of the bunnies.

Although the rabbits were healthy, they were not all well
socialized. About half had ear tattoos and most were very
young. The 90 or so rabbits joined the already-full rabbit
room at the Sacramento SPCA, and overflowed into the cattery,
the feline Leukemia room, and every other nook and cranny at
the shelter. A few were sent to the City Shelter, but the
SPCA needed more help to place these animals, so they put out
an SOS call to the Sacramento HRS. Volunteers stepped up to
the plate immediately to perform health checks and tend to
the rabbits with the most urgent grooming needs.

Kirsten Macintyre, Co-Manager of the Sacramento House Rabbit
Society, reported, "Because the Sacramento HRS foster program
was already full (as we always are), we could only help out
initially by sending our volunteers to the SPCA regularly to
clip nails, clean cages, etc. We moved our bunnies around and
got a couple of new fosterers, and I think we managed to absorb
maybe 5 of the rexes into our program."

But the shelter and the rescue group had to work together to
come up with a more thorough solution. In the five months that
followed, the Sacramento HRS held several on-site adoption days
at the SPCA and helped find permanent homes for many of the
rabbits. The SPCA was adopting rabbits out directly as well,
and the numbers were dropping, but not fast enough. In early
September, the Sacramento HRS contacted HRS National Head-
quarters and reported that the situation was dire. Twenty-eight
bunnies remained at the SPCA, and the new shelter director had
told staff that they would be euthanized in four days if they
were not moved out. (Because some of the rabbits had been there
so long, he was concerned that they were "warehousing" animals
and was concerned about the staff's ability to care for them.)

The HRS National office broadcast a call for help to Bay Area
members and volunteers as well as posting ads online. The
response was immediate and overwhelming. Kirsten relayed,
"We quickly had all the spaces we needed to move the rabbits
out of harm's way... but the logistics of the move still
needed to be worked out."

Due to time constraints, the Sacramento HRS was unable to
screen this round of fosterers, so Sally Pometta, Community
Outreach Coordinator for the Sacramento SPCA personally called
all of the respondents to talk to them about the rabbits. Some
people wanted to foster; others were ready to adopt. Some
people were more knowledgeable than others, so she had to make
sure that each home was appropriate. Sally and Officer Katie
Peralta personally loaded the bunnies into Katie's van on a
Saturday morning and delivered them to their new homes in the
Bay Area (on their personal time). "All of the rabbits in
danger are now in foster care, thanks to the fabulous net-
working of the House Rabbit Societies in Richmond, San
Francisco, Marin, Sacramento, etc.", said Sally. "Getting
so many rabbits in our shelter in the middle of cat season
was a very bad situation for us. We can generally place our
rabbits in a timely manner, but the humane impound rabbits
taken on this cruelty case was more than we could handle, and
put a clog in our flow. (At the time of our distress call),
bunnies we'd had for over a year were still here. Thanks to
all who helped - we love you!"

Kirsten added that the latest rescue wasn't the first time
the HRS has collaborated with the SPCA on a project of this
magnitude. "Since the inception of the Sacramento HRS in the
mid-1990s, we've worked with the Sacramento SPCA on several
large-scale rescues and re-homings. The enthusiasm of the SPCA
staff makes our job much easier -- they genuinely care for the
animals and are always willing to go the extra mile to help.
It makes all the difference, because the weight isn't always
on our shoulders (and anyone who does rescue work knows what a
big burden a project like this can be). The two organizations
working together have saved the lives of literally hundreds of
rabbits since 1998."

To learn more about the importance of HRS chapters having
good working relationships with shelters nationwide, please
read the cover story, 'Building Bridges' in the newly
released Fall edition of the House Rabbit Society Journal.



** Southern California Wildfires **

"We hope everyone and everybun made it through the Southern
California fires safely. We know of some members who had to
evacuate, and at least a couple who lost their homes. The
Central Shelter currently has several rabbits for adoption
who were relinquished because their families lost their homes
in the fires. Our hearts go out to those who were effected."
~ HRS San Diego Chapter - November 9, 2003 ~

As of today, November 29, two of the rabbits who came into
the San Diego shelters due to the fires have been reunited
with their owners, one is in foster care due to health
concerns and a couple is now available for adoption.
Additionally, there are a couple of stray rabbits believed
to be from the fire areas, but that cannot be confirmed.

The San Diego Chapter helped a few local members who lost
their homes by providing emergency supplies for their rabbits
such as cages and food.

In the midst of tragedies, good things can happen. Michelle
Wilhelms, San Diego's Chapter manager, has one such anecdote
to tell; "We know of one bunny bonding that was in the works
when the family was evacuated. The two buns had to be trans-
ported out in one large cage so their bonding was sped up.
Kylie and Mr. FooFoo are now totally in love! And, their
house was spared." Kylie was a HRS foster. To see her and
Mr. FooFoo's happy adoption photo, please go to:
http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/adoption/happy_adoptions.html

For information about including your rabbits and other
animals in emergency plans, go to:
http://www.rabbit.org/care/emergency-planning.html



*** When Developers & Warrens Collide ***

This news story is from The Sacramento Bee, contributed by HRS
Sacramento Chapter:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/placer/story/7775832p-8714834c.html



*** Corporate Matching Gift Programs ***

Do you work for a company that matches employees' donations
to their favorite charities? If so, please consider applying
for a matching donation for your annual House Rabbit Society
contribution. If you're not sure whether your donation, or
HRS, is eligible, please contact your company's human resources
department or write to House Rabbit Society for help at
membership@.... We'd be happy to fill out the paperwork
so that your donation can be doubled by your company.

Some companies only match gifts to charities when they have a
certain number of donors or volunteers of that organization on
their payroll, so you may need to find out from your company,
or from HRS, whether this is the case.

ATTENTION: Cisco Employees
We are currently trying to find out whether we have employees
of Cisco among our members; if you work for Cisco, please
contact Margo DeMello at: margo@...



** St Louis, Missouri - Feature Chapter of the Month **

By Margo DeMello, President & Executive Director of HRS

Starting this month, House Rabbit Society will be featuring
one chapter per month in this newsletter, so that our friends
and members can read all about a chapter's great work in
detail, and can, we hope, contribute directly to support their
activities. We are starting this new feature off with St Louis,
Missouri, a part of the larger Missouri Chapter.

The St. Louis Chapter is one of our most active chapters, with
over 100 foster and sanctuary rabbits in foster care at any
one time. The chapter pays for the medical expenses for all of
the foster rabbits (their single largest expense and over
$14,000.00 so far this year) via a number of fundraisers that
they hold throughout the year, such as the recent Holiday
Bunny Boutique, held at the Humane Society of Missouri in St.
Louis. The chapter maintains a wonderful working relationship
with the Humane Society, holding their meetings (which attract
between 50 and 60 members per month) in the shelter's classroom,
and helping to care for and place the rabbits that the shelter
takes in. The Humane Society included an article in their
current magazine thanking St. Louis HRS for their help in
handling 45 rabbits from a recent breeder confiscation.

The St. Louis chapter is blessed with an amazingly large
and dedicated group of volunteers who foster rabbits, clean
and feed at the largest foster home, run the educational
and fundraising events, make toys and bunny houses, maintain
the website, assist with the newsletter, answer the help
hotline and more. I had the privilege of meeting the volun-
teers earlier this month, and can report that not only are
they dedicated and enthusiastic, but they love working with
the rabbits and each other. Without these amazing volunteers,
the chapter would not be heading for the largest number of
adoptions they've ever had for one year: 158 and counting.
In addition, St.Louis is also blessed to have a terrific
relationship with one of their local veterinary hospitals,
the Everything Pets Animal Hospital, whose medical care and
compassion are instrumental to the chapter's continuing
success.

Joy Gioia, the co-chapter manager of the Missouri chapter,
recently sent me a great example of how much the chapter's
volunteers, shelter, and veterinary professionals can
accomplish together.

Joy writes:
"Last Wednesday an emergency call came in from the shelter
at 2 pm regarding six 6-week old mini lop babies who were
surrendered there in very poor condition. The mother had been
killed by a dog two weeks before that and the babies had been
kept outside and in with three other adult rabbits. They were
seriously dehydrated besides being roughed up and malnourished.
The shelter's veterinary technician was not sure two of the
babies would make it. A call for help saw one member, Maggie
Perez, leave work early to pick up the babies and rush them
to our veterinary clinic which made room in their busy
schedule to check each baby and give them subcutaneous fluids.
Because Maggie works in Missouri, but lives in Illinois, a
second volunteer, Jessica Logan (a grad student at Washington
University) met her at the clinic to pick up the babies and
bring them to my house so that the first volunteer could then
go directly home. A third volunteer was called, Nancy Taylor
(a surgical technician at St. Louis Children's Hospital) who
rushed over to pick up the babies for fostering and lots of
tender, loving care. The babies are doing fine as of this
writing thanks to a dedicated shelter tech, our veterinary
hospital's response for immediate treatment, and three
wonderful volunteers who dropped everything to help six tiny
rabbits in need."

The St. Louis and Kansas City arms of the Missouri chapter fre-
quently work together, often helping each other with adoptions
or by staffing large educational events like the Midwest
Veterinary Conference. Together the regions also cover a huge
territory when it comes to adoptions and inquiries for informa-
tion. St. Louis alone has had help requested from eighteen
different shelters and adoptions have gone out to every state
surrounding Missouri. The chapter has even had shelter staff
drive as far as three hours away to bring them a rabbit if
they have room in their foster system.

When I asked Joy what her chapter's greatest need is, she
replied that their dream is to have their own shelter to house
their foster rabbits. Continuing needs also include exercise
pens, donations to their medical fund, and they currently need
a number of large office items such as a copier, a plain paper
FAX machine, a new computer, and even some office furniture.
To directly support the St. Louis chapter, you can make a
donation right now by going to:
http://www.rabbit.org/hrs-info/donation.html. Click on the
link for online credit card payments and BE SURE to include
"St. Louis HRS" in the designation field. We will make sure
to send the chapter all of your donations. You can also
contribute via mail by sending donations to:

Missouri House Rabbit Society
Saint Louis Area
P.O. Box 6362
Chesterfield, Missouri 63006-6362

To find out more about the St. Louis chapter's efforts, please
visit their website at: www.mohrs.petfinder.org, (or go to
http://rabbit.org/chapters/index.html and click on "St. Louis").
Here you'll find information about recent and upcoming events,
photos of all of their adoptable rabbits, information on
volunteering, monthly meetings and much, much more.



*** House Rabbit Society Chapter Updates ***

I wanted to update you on some of the activities our volun-
teers have been engaged in around the country. In New England,
the Rhode Island Chapter was just invited to write a monthly
column in a new community magazine called Animal Print, which
reaches over 30,000 animal lovers throughout the region.

In the mid-west, the Columbus Chapter created a sign promoting
the chapter that was created by one of their volunteers and is
on display in Worthington, Ohio. The sign is so impressive that
it will be featured in the December issue of the advertising
magazine, Sign of the Times! (To see the sign, please go to:
http://www.columbusrabbit.org/signsofthetimes.html) Our Indiana
Chapter is celebrating "Adopt a Senior Pet Month" and is also
working on a Secret Santa project the focuses the holiday
giving spirit on homeless rabbits by having volunteers create
and distribute edible gift baskets for all foster and sanctu-
ary rabbits in the chapter's region. Finally, they are co-
hosting a Small Animal Care Expo on December 6 in Indianapolis.

In the west, Colorado House Rabbit Society will hold its annual
Bunny Boutique fundraiser and open house on Sunday, November
23, at their shelter in Broomfield. Both San Diego HRS & the
National shelter/headquarters are also gearing up for their
annual holiday events; San Diego's is on December 10, and the
shelter's Holiday Photo Day and Bazaar will be on November 30.
In addition, National will host our first ever Winter Rabbit
Storybook Session for kids on December 13.

Finally, you will be happy to hear that the House Rabbit
Journal was mailed during the week of November 17 so you
should receive it very soon. Look for articles on how HRS
works with shelters around the country, rabbits and children,
skin diseases in rabbits, and much more.



*** HRS Chapter Item of the Month ***

The New York City Chapter of House Rabbit Society has produced
an instructional nail-cutting video. Learn to trim your
rabbit's nails using the simple technique demonstrated in this
38-minute video. No trancing or bunny burritos are necessary!
To read more about this important educational video and to get
details on how to order your copy, please go to:
http://www.rabbitcare.org/nail.html


*** 2004 Rabbits Calendar is Here! ***

The Rabbits 2004 calendar is out! Photographed by the New York
City chapter's Mary Cotter, all rabbits featured in this cal-
endar are rescued rabbits. Calendars can be bought directly
from many individual HRS chapters, benefiting the individual
chapter, and also from calendars.com: 15% of the purchase
price of calendars bought through this calendars.com link will
be given to House Rabbit Society.

http://www.rabbit.org/links/calendar.html


*** Remember the Amazon! ***

If books are on your holiday shopping list, please remember
to use this House Rabbit Society link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/houserabbitsocie

Five per cent of every purchase from amazon.com will go to
House Rabbit Society. Thank you.

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*** 128 Memberships Away From Our Goal - Join Today ***

We set a goal of 750 online membership signups this year.
We're currently at 622. Please join today and help us reach
our goal; The cost is only $18, of $25 for international. We
accept Mastercard, Visa, and Amex. All members receive our
publication, House Rabbit Journal.

http://www.rabbit.org/hrs-info/joining.html


*** Already a Member? ***

Thanks! Please consider providing additional support by
making a tax deductible donation.

http://www.guidestar.org/helping/donate.adp?ein=943061685


On behalf of the rabbits, Thank you.


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*** A Special Note to a Special Person ****

This newsletter is dedicated to Hana & Aprile. Your life
together was tragically brief. Try to find solace in
remembering that Hana finally had a place to call home,
one in which she could not have been more wanted and loved.
We all care about you Aprile and share in your sorrow.

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