** What's New at House Rabbit Society? Summer 2006


** Panasonic Supports House Rabbit Society

Panasonic introduced their new Oxyride battery with a
campaign called "Neuter Your Bunny" to encourage the
public to neuter and spay their pet rabbits. If you haven't
seen the details yet, check out www.neuteryourbunny.com
to read all about it.

Part of the campaign included a generous gift to HRS that
will be used for education, spays & neuters and grants to
chapters. It's amazing that corporate America is:
a) recognizing house rabbits and b) helping us to
communicate the spay & neuter message.

If you have a moment, please email Panasonic, to thank
them for their support of rabbit neutering, and to give them
a thumbs up for their compassion: http://tinyurl.com/hq8rf

Here's the message I sent. I hope you can take a couple
of minutes to add your thoughts:

On behalf of the 300+ members of the Tampa Bay House
Rabbit Society, thank you for your generous support and
your assistance in communicating the benefits of spaying
and neutering. We face a daily uphill battle to teach people
the dangers of pet overpopulation and your campaign
focus and dedicated web site boosts our efforts. As
chapter manager, I receive dozens of calls a week from
people wanting to get rid of, or "dump" their rabbits.
Hopefully your spay & neuter message will reach some of
those people and the people who allow the over breeding
of rabbits. Thank you and the rabbits thank you.

Sincerely,
Dana Hakes
Tampa Bay House Rabbit Society
http://www.tampabayhrs.org



** Best Friends Animal Society Rescues 1600 Rabbits

You may have heard about the enormous feral rabbit
colony in Reno, NV that Best Friends Animal Society
(Utah) has taken charge of.1600 rabbits have been
rescued!

I am proud to say that our Seattle chapter has agreed to
take 300 of these needy rabbits (who will live at the feral
rabbit sanctuary maintained by the chapter), which is an
enormous help to Best Friends. While most of our foster
homes are already too full to fit in additional rabbits, we
have found other ways to be of assistance, such as via
fund raising (Sacramento HRS donated $500), helping
with transportation through their areas as well as home
checks for potential adopters. One of our educators out
of the New York City chapter, Laura George, DVM,
traveled to the site for a week to do spays/neuters; she
brought her own vet tech from New York, and the two
of them helped to organize supplies, personnel, etc. to get
a system in place for future volunteer vets and techs.

Here is a great USA Today article (8/8) covering more
details of this enormous rescue. Be certain to click on the
link in the article to see the amazing photos:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2006-08-08-rabbits_x.htm.
If you can help by taking in a rabbit or two, please visit:
http:// www.bestfriends.org



** Los Angeles Shelters Raise Rabbit Adoption Fees

The Los Angeles City Council approved a plan on Aug. 2
that nearly triples adoption fees for rabbits from $15 to
$40 at the city's six animal shelters: http://tinyurl.com/krzo4



** Harvest Home: California's Newest Animal Sanctuary

House Rabbit Society is proud to announce the formation
of Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary, the newest addition
to our network of sanctuaries that take in unadoptable
rabbits from the HRS Rabbit Center and Headquarters.
Harvest Home was founded by two HRS volunteers,
Karen Courtemanche and Annemarie Engelhardt. Karen
has been fostering for HRS since 2001 and also ran the
Rabbit Center Hop Shop. Karen was instrumental in the
Hayward rabbit rescue case as well as the Lucky case,
and in fact it was through taking in 35 of the Hayward
rabbits that Karen decided she wanted to run a
sanctuary.

Besides a newly built rabbit house with adjoining play yard
which houses 65 sanctuary rabbits, Harvest Home also
cares for chickens, pigs, ducks, a sheep, a donkey, and
a pony--all rescued animals. Harvest Home Animal
Sanctuary is located in Stockton, California and serves the
Bay Area and Central Valley.
http://www.harvesthomeanimal.org

You can help support the ambitious and life-saving work
at Harvest Home by shopping at their brand new online
gift shop: http://www.cafepress.com/harvesthome



** Your Help Needed For Anti-Rabbit Meat Campaign

For several years, Alabama EARS has been concerned
about the rise of the rabbit meat industry in Alabama. Our
Agricultural Director, Ron Sparks, has made the
development of the rabbit meat industry his "top priority".

We are sorry to report that the situation has worsened,
and the rabbits desperately need your voice! On June 21st,
2006, the Birmingham News ran an article entitled
"Another White Meat" which glowingly described the
growing rabbit meat industry in Alabama.

Right now the industry is relatively small, however, if Ron
Sparks and the Tri-State Rabbit Growers Association
have their way it will be as large as the chicken industry.
Please help nip this in the bud! We need as many people
as possible to write to Ron Sparks and the Birmingham
News, as well as stores and restaurants that feature rabbit
meat, to let them know that rabbits are companion
animals, not food.

Please visit our web page at:
http://www.alabamaears.org/bnyvoverview.html more
details on this situation and to learn more about how you
can help.


** Margo DeMello's Home/Sanctuary Makes the News!

In late July, Associated Press picked up a story originally
published in The Albuquerque Tribune about former HRS
President Margo DeMello's home/sanctuary in New
Mexico: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/46877.html
(Editors' note: "Way to go, Margo!")


** Rabbit Crisis at Los Angeles Shelters

Los Angeles's animal shelters are overflowing with literally
hundreds of homeless rabbits right now. We have not
euthanized rabbits in several years, and we do not want to
have to start now. Please help these wonderful bunnies!
They are all spayed or neutered and just waiting for

loving homes of their own. Please contact or visit any of the
six city shelters and talk to the rabbit volunteers about
finding the right bunny pair for your home.
Visit: http://www.laanimalservices.com/RabbitCrisis.pdf
or any of these locations:

East Valley Shelter 818/756-9323
South LA Shelter 213/485-0117
West Valley Shelter 818/756-9325
North Central Shelter 213/847-2440
West LA Shelter 310/207-3156
Harbor Shelter 888/452-7381 x 143



** Rare Rabbit Gets Funds to Restore Habitat

$400,000 restoration project gives the San Joaquin River
brush rabbits another chance: http://tinyurl.com/z9meu



** New Book: When a Man Loves a Rabbit

Canadian musician and freelance writer Bruce Atchison
has just published, When a Man Loves a Rabbit: Learning
and Living with Bunnies. "A delightful and insightful look
into the heart of a man who loved his furry little friends, as
much perhaps as any father loves his children. An
entertaining read." —Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of The
River http://tinyurl.com/obc59



** Cooling Bunnies with Frozen Water Bottles is Safe

If you have received an Internet warning about frozen
plastic water bottles releasing cancer-causing dioxins, never
fear; the message is a hoax, dispelled in the following
article from John Hopkins University: http://tinyurl.com/dbhwr



** Caution: Inherent Dangers in the Garbage Can

We share this information in hopes that you are aware of
the many indoor dangers facing your house rabbit. This is
a true story that occurred to a House Rabbit Society
member outside Florida.

Rabbits are naturally curious and can smell foods that might
be tasty, but not necessarily good. Louie got into the
garbage and into a bag of discarded Tostitos. He ate about
1/3 of the bag before his mom found him. The main
ingredient in Tostitos and many chip products is corn,
which is very dangerous for bunny. She rushed him to the
emergency vet but unfortunately there was little the vet
could do and Louie passed away.

Please be very careful of how you dispose of trash and in
the summer season of parties, please don't leave bowls of
chips out where curious bunnies can reach. Contributed
by: http://www.tampabayhrs.org



** RabbitCentral.com Supports HRS!

RabbitCentral.com is proud to offer 10% off all orders for
HRS Members! Go to http://www.rabbitcentral.com and
when you are ready to check out, enter HRS into the field
for "coupon or promotional code."



** Search the Internet and Raise Money for HRS

What if House Rabbit Society earned a penny every time
you searched the Internet? Well, now we can!

GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates half
its revenue to the charities its users designate. You use it
just as you would any search engine, and it's powered by
Yahoo!, so you get great results. Just go to
www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter House Rabbit
Society as the charity you want to support (you only have
to do this once; GoodSearch will remember your chosen
charity). Just 500 of us searching four times a day will
raise about $7300 in a year without anyone spending a
dime! And, be sure to use GoodSearch especially heavily
on August 23 as we are going to be featured as the
Charity of the Day! Tell all your friends!



** House Rabbit Journal

The newest House Rabbit Journal is on its way to
press! Be sure to renew your membership if you haven't
lately to ensure that you will continue to receive this
valuable, informative and useful material.
http://www.rabbit.org/hrs-info/donation.html



** House Rabbit Society Chapter and Educator Updates

* Indiana

Indiana HRS is proud to announce that in July, they
launched a brand, spankin' new website:
http://www.indianahrs.org. You can help Indiana's rabbits
by purchasing a tee shirt, tote bag or coffee mug at their
online store: http://www.cafepress.com/indianahrs
Congratulations Indiana!


* St Louis Missouri

Our annual Bunny Expo was held June 11 at our local
Humane Society facility. The Expo is our primary
education event each year. Dozens of HRS members
volunteered their time to plan and staff the event, which
attracted several hundred attendees. We set up tables for
Behavior, Litter Box Training, Housing, Diet, Travel,
Bunny Proofing and more. Attendees can see displays,
demonstrations and a vet talk, pick up handouts, and talk
to volunteers about everything bunny. Bunnies are also
welcome at this event. We offer reasonably priced
photos, a variety of bunny food and supplies, free nail
trims, drawings and boutique items. Several of our
adoptable bunnies are featured in the housing displays.This
year's Expo was a success in education, adoption and
fund raising, and was enjoyed as much by the volunteers as
it was by the attendees.

We were fortunate that one of our volunteers was able to
arrange for our chapter manager, Joy Gioia, and some of
the bunnies and volunteers to be on the Fox News morning
show a few days before the Expo. The Fox team was
very supportive of our cause, and Joy was able to discuss
many important rabbit FAQs during the course of the
interview, as well as getting the word out about the
upcoming Expo. It was a wonderful opportunity for some
positive publicity.

St. Louis is again producing a Rabbit Rescue calendar and
hope to have a site for people to catch a glimpse of a few
photo pages for the next HRS update. Last year the
calendar was sold at many places around the country as
well as being individually ordered. We hope for as much
success this year as sales not only help the medical
expenses of the fosters in St. Louis, but help raise funds for
each organization which also sells it. We don't know how,
but the bunnies in the photos seem to just get cuter every
year! Shipping will start around Sept.1 so stay tuned.

Plans are in the works for another Rabbit Veterinary
Conference in St. Louis for March 2007 so let your
veterinarians who want to be more rabbit savvy know
about us. They can see our last agenda at:
www.rabbitvetconference.org

Susan Ruby
Educator
HRS of MO-STL
http://members.petfinder.org/~MO56/index.html


* Colorado

The Colorado House-Rabbit Society held its "Spring Fling
and Rabbit Family Reunion" on June 10th, 2006. People
enjoyed vegan food, had family portraits with their rabbits
taken, discussed issues with vets, bid on auction items, and
generally had a good time. We took in around $4,000.

Remodeling of our "run room" began the following Monday.
It looks like it's going to be a wonderful improvement in
our facilities!

Nancy LaRoche
Co-Manager, CO HRS
http://www.coloradohrs.com


* Louisiana

Katrina Disaster Update from Louisiana: We are still not
able to take in rabbits and the shelters are still in temporary
locations. Also involved in the LA/SPCA and City of New
Orleans evacuation plan for animals:
http://www.la-spca.org. I would be concentrating on
rabbit evacuation. I have been in communication with
many of the Noah's Wish volunteers and have supplied
some of them with House Rabbit Handbooks and
handouts on rabbit care. By this I hope that when they
reach the next disaster many more of them will be well
versed in rabbit care. If we have another disaster of the
magnitude of Katrina I will open a account at Oxbow or
any other place nearer to the disaster so the rabbits will be
assured of good and hay, hopefully people will donate to
this account if and when the time comes.

If you can contribute to the ongoing relief work from the
Katrina disaster, please contact June Booth in Slidell LA
at: jhbooth@...


* Arkansas

Throughout the spring and summer months, Arkansas
educator Sharon Dumas, has kept an ambitious itinerary.
Sharon has made presentations at rescue groups and
educated dozens of children in reading programs at
libraries throughout the state. No doubt, the traveling paid
off as Sharon exposed children to the wonderful world of
rabbits.


* Vancouver

Vancouver Rabbit Rescue designed, ordered and
assembled wonderful new rabbit cages made by Leith
Petwerks for the Vancouver branch of the BC SPCA.
The SPCA paid the bill. (Our labour was free, of course.)
These 12 new cages add to the 10 we installed 3 years
ago so now they have 22 excellent rabbit cages.

A new shelter for rabbits is now open in Aldergrove (a
community about 25 miles out of Vancovuer). Mercy's
Reach Rabbit Haven plans to be a shelter to aid rescues
and the SPCA with places to keep rabbits until they can
get homes. There are 32 cages along with 32 outdoor,
covered and secure runs. They plan to offer rabbit
boarding as well.

Olga Betts
VRRA
CM-T Vancouver
http://www.vrra.org


* Richmond/Headquarters

House Rabbit Society's Rabbit Center and International
Headquarters has been busy this year, dealing with a
number of unexpected rabbit emergencies. But we have
big plans for updating some of our facilities and offering
more assistance to other shelters and rescue groups in the
Bay Area. If you are in the Bay Area for a visit, please be
sure to stop by, visit the rabbits, say hi to our volunteers
and staff, and purchase some goodies in our Hop Shop.

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting an art
show and sale featuring art work by Arizona artist Carolyn
Prince Batchelor:
http://www.cprincebatchelor.com/index.html. Carolyn has
a strong personal affinity for rabbits and hares and has
pursued an interest in the natural history of rabbits and
hares and their roles in folklore and myth. Inspired by her
readings, she began creating painted paper bead works
featuring rabbits, as well as collages, drawings, and
hand-made books with rabbits and hares as subjects.
These rabbit pieces were featured in 2005 in a gallery
show and, along with new work exhibited for the first time
at HRS, will be the basis for House Rabbit Society's
benefit exhibition.

The show will be at the HRS Rabbit Center on Saturday
August 26, from 12-4. www.rabbit.org/rabbit-center



** Become a Member of House Rabbit Society

If you are not a member of House Rabbit Society, please
take this opportunity to join us. A yearly tax-deductible
membership costs only $18, or $25 for international
memberships. All members receive the Society's
newsletter, House Rabbit Journal. Please go to:
http://rabbit.org/hrs-info/joining.html



** For Opie, the toothless wonder. All our hearts.


** On behalf of the rabbits, thank you.



What's New at HRS editor: Cwynar & Co.
c.cwynar@...