Starting a Bunny Group

[luvmybuns]

I was just wondering what everyone’s opinions are on this subject.  I am wanting to find other House Bunny owners (slaves) in my area.  I live in a very small area and I think there is only one, or maybe two, vets that deal with bunnies.  There are no local shelters here that take in bunnies (I went 2 hours away to adopt my one), so I was thinking of trying to start a "bunny group" in the area.  My thoughts were that we could ask each other questions, possibly bunny sit and maybe work with our local human society in starting to accepting bunnies.  Anyone ever do this before?

[kralspace]

Sounds like a great idea, I wish we had one in Waco, Texas. I’ve met a couple of people just my accident. I went into Barnes and Noble to get the Urban Rabbit book and the girl who waited on me has a house rabbit and had been considering adopting the same one I had.

Kinda disturbing is I’ve met 2 moms in Tractor Supply this last month, both of whom had ‘found’ a tame rabbit in their yard that no one claimed. I overheard them asking the salespeople what all they should buy for the bunny and talked to them a minute about mine.

I’ve written down this and several websites for people I meet, I should print some cards and just have them ready…lol

Good luck with your group

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

OMG I just wrote a long reply and and tried to post it and POOF! Oh heck here is a shortened version:

Call your shelter to find why they don’t take rabbits and what it would take to get them to do so, say like if they ever did and why did they stop? Maybe getting a petition going and educating people that rabbits make GREAT indoor pets and can be litter trained.  Ask if you can place some House Rabbit brochures at the shelter to help educate people and if they start asking the shelter about rabbits, maybe they will start accepting them (this is a sneak-attack). LOL OK well anyway, if I think of anything else, I will be sure to post it!

There are a couple of independent groups in PA that I know are not nearby but maybe they have members in your area and can help you get together or even help you get your own group going.  Here are their web sites:

http://www.rabbithabit.org/

http://www.pittsburghhouserabbit.org/

[luvmybuns]

Scarlet Rose…  I already have connections with the Pittsburgh House Rabbit Society.  I adopted Cinnamon from the Animal Rescue League of Western PA (In Pittsburgh).   I am going to attend their "Bonding Without Bloodshed" meeting in September.   

Our humane society has never taken rabbits.  Right now, they won’t even discuss it.  My thought is if I get enough people in the area that have house rabbits, that maybe we can talk with the humane society and convince them to start taking rabbits.  They would all have to be fostered, as our humane society is already overcrowded with dogs and cats.   I have talked with the humane society and my name is suppose to be listed as a contact if anyone wants to drop off a bunny.  I have been holding off contacting the Head of the Board until I figure out what I would do with more than one or two extra bunnies.   I also need to figure out how they can get funds for spay and neuter on bunnies.  I know they are not educated at all with house bunnies.  Just the ones people keep in their backyard in hutches. 

I will be keeping notes on everything anyone has  to offer for suggestions.    Thanks to anyone who responds.

[Hedi]

I volunteer with my local humane society who does take in rabbits and other small animals.

I can guess the reason why they dont accept rabbits-they dont know anything about them and they dont have the staff to care for them.

Be prepared that if you do bring up them accepting buns they will most likely ask that you help with the care of them. If they dont have the staff you will end up being the caretaker of the buns. One other local HS around here accepts rabbits. Both of our HS are fairly large and the reason they accept buns is because the rabbit volunteer group is large enough to care for them.

If our shelter didnt have the rabbit volunteers that is has they would rarely take in a bun. It is just easier to say they dont accept them than to bother with an animal that their vets dont know how to care for and they dont know how to market to get it adopted. All cages must be cleaned every morning and they rarely have the manpower to do this for all cats and dogs, let alone buns.

We have had bunny illnesses get missed because our vets dont routinely care for buns. The area vets are crazy expensive and even with a discount its still a horrible cost to the shelter.

I dont want to discourage you. It would be great if you could get the shelter to accept buns. Because I volunteer at my shelter they expect me to be there three times a week to clean cages and socialize buns-I am even on their schedule which isnt always a good thing.

I recently got a full time job and they arent too happy with me right now.

The other thing is there are a lot of paid staff as well as volunteers so sometimes one group doesnt know what the other group is doing and it can be really chaotic at times.

A bunny group would be great. We have one here and we coordinate the bunny care at the shelters making sure they have hay, pellets and veggies. If there was a group of you the shelter would be much easier to approach about rabbits.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Awe, that’s great! It sounds like you are on the right track though getting in contact with groups and already being involved.  Another good thing that Hedi brought up is if there are too many "independent" groups, better efforts and progress can be made by joining together and keeping in contact with each other. 

My suggestion would be to put up some flyers at pet stores, grocery stores, animal shelters, feed stores saying to e-mail you (set up a free e-mail account dedicated for this) if they are interested in forming an "informal" get together say meet once or twice a month to start for those interested in or have House Rabbits.  That way you can see how many of you are gathered in one area and keep up the word of mouth and flyers. 

And say if you get big enough and there is a fair in your area, set up a booth on bunny info, depending on how big your group is or even offer to set this booth up and ask your local HRS if you can have some info/material/flyers you could have or reproduce and hand out and have your Cinnamon there as an "ambassdor of bunnies." I mean that’s pretty big scale with the booth, but it’s nice to think about.

[Deleted User]

Can I just add that all the Ladies on here who volunteer their free time to the shelters are worth your weight and gold. 

I have done volunteer work in a a local cat/dog refugee home and it is definitely hard work … don’t worry about having nice nails! LOL.

If it was not for volunteers, many of these shelters would not exist and an abundance of animals would not survive and have the opportunity of being adopted out.

Hooray for the volunteers!

Dawn xx

[MooBunnay]

ditto “HOORAY FOR VOLUNTEERS” and I have to say hooray for the people that go to the shelters – I am soooo sensitive that even a not so good adoption event puts me in tears so I am not yet able to go to the shelters…and I have much respect for the people that do, it can’t be easy.

A nice step in a “bunny group” direction that is very easy is to put together a business card with just your name and email, and a list of 7-8 websites where people can get information about rabbits – and even put your email if you are comfortable – that way you can hand it out wherever you go. I did this and ordering 250 cards was only $8 – and I hand them out all over!

[luvmybuns]

MooBunnay – The idea of the business cards is wonderful.  I did make up posters, but was wondering how to let people know the email for me.  I will do the business cards and somehow attach them to the posters.  I will also add a few websites to the business cards.  Very good idea.  Thank you so much. 

I also agree that the volunteers at the shelters should all get a big HOORAY!!!  We hung out at the shelter while Digger was getting fixed and played with all the bunnies, cleaned their cages, etc. to give the people that do that every day a break.  We enjoyed it.  Unfortunately our closest shelter for rabbits is 2 hours away, so that is a seldom thing for us.

[RascalnBinks]

Starting a bunny group sounds great! Too bad you arent near me lol. Wonder how to meet bunny slaves around here…..

[BinkyBunny]

You could try using Craigslist.org in your area as a tool to get the word out.

[luvmybuns]

I will check out Craiglist.org.  I have never heard of it.   thanks again for all the ideas.

[RascalnBinks]

That sounds good, i didnt think of trying craigslist. Good luck luvmybuns!

[Author]

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