** February is Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month

This month House Rabbit Society celebrates Adopt a Rescued Rabbit
Month! To find out more about adopting a rabbit, please start with
our FAQ pages and then visit our adoption page to find an HRS chapter
or foster home near you. Shelters, to find out about how to promote
rabbit adoptions at your own shelter, please visit our Rescue pages.
http://www.rabbit.org/adopt-a-rabbit-month/adopt.html

** Help for Shelters and Rescue Groups

House Rabbit Society has put together a comprehensive set of
materials for shelters and rescue groups to use to help them to
improve their rabbit care and adoption programs. At
http://www.rabbit.org/rescue/, you'll find information about the HRS
Emergency Rescue Fund, working with pet stores to promote rabbit
adoptions, lots of educational materials, and links to pages where
you can find adoption forms, shelter forms, posters, flyers, and more.
http://www.rabbit.org/rescue/

** Jewelry to remember a beloved Rabbit

Memorial Gallery Pets, a company that makes memorial jewelry for pet
owners, has just created two new rabbit memorial necklaces. With the
purchase of an up eared rabbit or lop eared cremation jewelry
pendant, a percentage of profits are donated to HRS. Be sure to enter
HRS in the order notes so that HRS gets a donation from your
purchase.
http://www.memorialgallerypets.com/pet-cremation-jewelry.aspx

** Other Businesses that benefit HRS or Rabbit Rescue When You Buy

Did you know that there are all kinds of ways that you can benefit
HRS when shopping for you or your rabbit? We've organized the links
to all of the companies that currently donate to HRS or to other
rabbit rescue groups when you make a purchase. Visit these great
companies here:
http://www.rabbit.org/links/shopforhrs.html

** Google Search

Did you know that if you use HRS's Google page, every time you use
Google to search for something, a you'll be supporting HRS?
http://www.rabbit.org/fun/google-search.html

** Searching for Rabbit Superstars!

Amy Spintman, HRS Educator, volunteer with San Diego HRS, and founder
of Cats & Rabbits & More, is looking for photos of rabbits playing in
Cottontail Cottages and Hopper Hideaways to post on these pages:

http://www.catsandrabbitsandmore.com/cottontail_cottages
http://www.catsandrabbitsandmore.com/hopperhideaway

If you're interested in your rabbit being a star, please contact Amy
at amy@....

** Hoarding Case in Florida

The following newspaper article tells the story of a man in Tampa who
had over 150 rabbits in poor conditions at his property. Since the
story was written, Animal Control removed the rabbits from the man's
home and most went to an animal rehabber in St. Petersburg for
temporary care. Tampa Bay HRS will be assisting with spay/neuters and
adoptions for these rabbits.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article971454.ece

** Rabbit Networking

Check out eThump, the new email list for rabbit lovers
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/eThump/
Rabbit rescuers are invited to join the Rabbit Rehoming Alliance, a
new support system for rabbit rescuers:
http://www.meetupalliance.com/RabbitRehomingAlliance
And don't forget Bunspace: the "in" place to be for rabbits from
around the world:
http://www.bunspace.com

** Chapter Updates

* Colorado

Colorado HRS has had a large jar (one of those multi-gallon drinking-
water bottles) in the shop, inviting people to drop their change in.
We recently counted it. It contained $1499.38!! This paid for three
sky lights in one of the rooms of our shelter.
http://www.coloradohrs.com/

* Italy

AAE Coniglio, the Italian chapter of HRS, was recently in the news
again! To see the most recent coverage, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJRijVUrQt0&feature=channel_page
http://www.aaeconigli.it/

* Wisconsin

The Wisconsin HRS Chapter has had a busy fall and early winter. Our
September Bunny Day in Madison brought a large crowd, two- and four-
legged, to hear about rabbit dental and digestive problems with guest
speaker Kurt Sladky, DVM, of the UW-Madison's Veterinary Teaching
Hospital. Early December saw successful fund-raising with our holiday
bazaars, despite the unusually heavy snowfall.

In November WHRS assisted the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (Des
Moines) with back-to-back confiscations of a large number of dwarfs
and lionheads. Over half of the 34 rabbits came back to Madison for
rehoming, with the remainder being rehomed our good friends at
Minnesota Rabbit Rescue. We thank Chicago HRS, Indiana HRS, and Red
Door Shelter of Chicago for taking several rabbits as well. Currently
there is no HRS chapter in Iowa - if you live in Iowa and would like
to be involved in helping shelter rabbits, we could use your energy!
Please contact us at WiHRS (info@...) if you would like
to help.

Chapter Manager George Flentke has been invited to Des Moines ARL
this spring to train shelter staff in rabbit care and behavior. We
are pleased to be associated with this fine shelter! Easter sees our
annual education events with the Mounds Pet Food Warehouses in south-
central Wisconsin (March 22, 29, Apr 5). April 18 is the Burlington
Pet Fair, and Milwaukee Bunny Day is April 26. August sees the AAV
Conference in Milwaukee Aug 8-15 and we will be sponsoring a rabbit
education table there. We are always seeking volunteers to help with
these events. Contact us at (608) 232-7044 or info@....
http://www.wisconsinhrs.org/

* Chicago

HRS Chicago mobilized its core volunteers to help DuPage County
Animal Care and Control in Wheaton, IL that had rescued over 69 Dutch
rabbits during an eviction on December 4, 2008. The rabbits while
well socialized, were living in deplorable conditions. The rabbits
were free roaming in a one bedroom apartment that was saturated with
urine and fecal matter. The amount of dead and live flies was
indescribable and unbearable for the officers on the scene. The
rabbits were able to multiply freely. Reproduction occurs every 4
weeks with litter ranging from 3 to 6 babies. The rescue effort was
swift and dog kennels soon became rabbit haven.

The shelter veterinarian immediately evaluated all the incoming
rabbits. They were amazed at the level of adaptability the rabbits
displayed. They did not appear to suffer any stress with the
transition and the veterinarian was able to begin spaying the rabbits
immediately upon intake.The shelter vet spayed 15 female rabbits the
next day and 13 of them were pregnant.

Dr. Susan Brown donated her time and neutered an additional 14 of the
rabbits and she and Dr. Nye performed a dental surgery on one that
HRS Chicago had taken into our foster system.

HRS Chicago volunteers worked 5 days a week to help clean, medicate
and screen adoptive homes for the rabbits. Various local rabbit
rescue groups, including HRS Chicago, were utilized to reduce the
population as the spay/neuter surgeries happened and the Associate
Press release resulted in 27 shelter adoptions so far. Now we are
happy to say that there are only 6 rabbits left.
http://www.hrschicago.org/index1.html

* St. Louis

Missouri HRS in St. Louis had its biggest challenges ever in 2008.
Starting in late 2007 and rolling through 2008 we had 20 litters of
babies come to us from various shelters; some with moms and some
not. That and the normal rabbits coming into us from shelters were
more than enough to handle, but in early August 2008 the Humane
Society of Missouri notified the House Rabbit Society of Missouri
about a major confiscation soon to occur of over 360 creatures of
fin, fur, and feather. The confiscation would include around 50
rabbits, over 20 guinea pigs, and other potential small animals.
Would our organization be able to help? The shelter would give up
its employee dining room for the duration as the animals would
require housing on premises until the case went to court for final
disposition.

A rush meeting with our governing group and a rush grant request to
Petsmart Charities was made plus a grant from HRS and a donation from
IND HRS covered the medical needs we anticipated. An appeal to our
members brought in a group of volunteers who met the night before the
confiscation and turned the dining room into both a housing and
exercise area plus medical triage center. We were able to utilize
dog crates on tables for aisles of bunny housing and used small
animal housing for the guinea pigs and degus. Dr. Linda Beisswenger
of Hope Animal Hospital in Fenton, MO stayed until the small hours of
the morning to help the Humane Society veterinary staff with
diagnosis and recommended treatment of the incoming small animals.
She followed up by coming to the shelter many times for continuing
care and handled the legal write-ups for the small animals that would
be presented to the judge for disposition.

Rallying to the call for daily volunteers, members of MO HRS took on
the daily care duties of feeding and cleaning the 45 surviving
rabbits brought in, 23 guinea pigs (who subsequently also produced 12
babies) and 2 degus so that Humane Society staff could focus on the
other animals in the confiscation and limit assistance in the "bunny
room" to medical care so that only qualified Humane Society medical
staff gave medication, etc. This was on top of all the volunteer
care required to handle the nearly 200 fosters already in MO HRS
(St. Louis) care.

When the case came to court, full disposition of the animals was
awarded to the Humane Society of Missouri. Again, they turned to the
House Rabbit Society of Missouri for the rabbits and small animals.
Over the next month MO HRS accepted all of the small animals.
Appealing to some veterinarians in the area with rabbit experience,
and, again, our volunteers, we also put together a spay/neuter day on
Sept. 28, 2008 in which 20 rabbits were altered in one day. The
remaining rabbits were altered at Hope Animal Hospital as they were
ready. A special adoption day was organized for October 5th, 2008
with both print and TV media attention. Over 20 rabbits and 15
guinea pigs were adopted that day. Of the 45 rabbits 3 were
subsequently lost to health complications, but 25 are in permanent
adoption homes and the remainder are in foster care with MO HRS for
continued socialization and/or health care so that they, too, may
find permanent homes.

We can't thank enough all those who gave of their time, energy, and
love to help these animals in need. And if the above wasn't enough
for 2008, MO HRS in St. Louis had 175 adoptions in 2008, revamped its
website, added a PayPal button, and sold nearly every 2009 Rabbit
Rescue Calendar it made. Thank you to those who helped and those
who adopted.

MO HRS has the following events/activities planned for 2009:

Monthly meetings, 3rd Tuesday of each month 7:30pm, Humane Society of
Missouri
Feb. 17: Speaker Linda Beisswenger, DVM, "Emergency Care - What
to do Until You Can Get to Your Veterinarian"
April 4, Eggstravaganza, Missouri Botanical Garden June 7, Bunny
Expo, Humane Society of Missouri (Macklind) Oct. 24, St. Louis Pet
Expo, America's Center Nov. 15, Holiday Animal Boutique, Humane
Society of Missouri
(Macklind)
http://www.hrsmostl.com/

* San Diego

San Diego HRS is offering fun new opportunities for kids. To
celebrate "Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month" in February, we are holding
a Feb 14th activity day for kids, "Love a Shelter Bunny!" At this
event kids will make toys and treats for area shelter rabbits,
including rattle toys, hay treat bags, and more.

Our pre-Easter education program will include an art contest where
school children are invited to submit a drawing that supports our
motto "Rabbits are for a Lifetime - Not Just for Easter." Winning
entries will get a visit to their classroom from a former Easter
bunny currently in HRS foster care.

Bunnyfest planning is underway, with a new Event Coordinator on
board, Heather Christian. Heather is leading a team of volunteers
that will work on getting sponsorships, new vendors, and coordinate
preparation for this annual event. This year's Bunnyfest looks to be
one of the best ever, with several new volunteers lending their fresh
ideas and energy to the event.

Community education classes are underway with our first Bunny 101
seminar scheduled for Jan 31. February's classes include Angora
Grooming, the kids' Valentine volunteer event, and a training
workshop for chapter educators.
http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/

* National Headquarters

We will be holding a special Valentine's Day Luncheon at our
headquarters on February 7, and on March 29, we will be hosting a Toy
Making class where participants will make fun goodies for your
bunnies, friends' bunnies, or the bunnies here at the shelter.
Finally, on May 3, we will be hosting the "Well Maintained Bunny"
class, which will be a primer class on grooming and health care for
rabbits. To find out more about these classes, call us at 510-970-
7575 or e-mail us at rabbit-center@....
http://www.rabbit.org/rabbit-center


** Join, Donate or Renew Your Membership!

We are done with the newest issue of the House Rabbit Journal; this
one will cover more 20th anniversary history and information, plus
all kinds of other great things. Remember, your donations don't just
pay for the Journal. They support the world's first international
rabbit rescue, education, and advocacy organization, which includes
producing the Journal, running the website, producing our educational
materials and outreach events, paying for our chapter grant and
emergency rescue grant programs, and running our shelter in
California. While we have a large reach, we are still a grassroots,
volunteer-based organization, and we need your donations to continue
to do what we do. To renew, make a donation, or join, go to
http://www.rabbit.org/hrs-info/joining.html


** Thank you on behalf of the rabbits.