Firstly, the animal you are trying to save is not native to this country, it’s not classified as a companion animal but rather livestock or worse still, a pest.
Many people don’t think they should be saved at all, as their natural relatives are classified as a pest… but they did not ask to be bought here from Europe. It’s us that did that, now it is up to us to make sure that the domestic version can live as long, happy & healthy a life as possible.
We haven’t had government on our side, until very recently. You can legally keep a rabbit in conditions that you would be charged with cruelty to animals if it was a cat in the same cage. How do we know this? We called a well-known animal welfare group out to check the conditions in one of these specific situations, but bunnies don’t matter, As long as there is shelter (a bit of tin over a 600mm2 wire bottom cage), water, (no matter how filthy) & food (bird seed is fine) the owner will get the tick of approval.
Oscars law may not have much strength, but from where rabbit rescues sit, it’s huge.
We cannot charge the adoption fees that cat and dog rescues can, the attitude of “it’s just a rabbit” shows through all too well here. Yes, a bunny that comes in costs just as much in vet costs and food as any dog or cat, but we are lucky to get $195. They have all been desexed, vaccinated (up to 3 shots) and then a booster every 6 months and all microchipped.
We can spend thousands saving a rabbit, just like any other rescue does on their chosen species. We don’t euthanise unless there is no hope and in 10 years there have only been two.
We (the humans) adopted a dog from a rescue last year. She is unwell with ongoing medical issues, she was already desexed and vaccinated but her fee was $450, and her illness had been incorrectly diagnosed. She costs us a fortune to look after but that’s who we took on. We did all we could to let her live a happy healthy life, just as any furry family member should be able to.
I actually made comment on a rescue group a while back, as other rescues were complaining about their desexing costs V adoption fee. When I said we only got $195 adoption fee and our expenses far exceeded this I was asked “why bother then?!” “If you can’t recoup your costs it’s not worth it.” If this is the attitude from other rescues, what hope do we have?
A wildlife shelter once attacked us saying we get to “sell” our rescues where they didn’t. The huge difference here is that we have to keep our rescues here until someone comes along to take over their guardianship. We can’t just release them once they are well. We have to purchase every element of their food, medication, vaccinations, heating, cooling for as long as they are in our care..
There is very little foraging here. We have 8 veggie gardens and in spring those 8 beds yield 1 nights feed a month.
Some buns are here for over a year! That’s at least 1 vaccinations but more usually 2 at least in the time they are here, expensive fresh foods and vet work costs for a year.
All vets know almost all there is to know about cats and dogs, but only a special few bother with rabbits.
Rabbits are still able to be sold by backyard breeders and pet shops right out in the open, but not puppies and kittens. Breeders of bunnies and pet shops don’t need to microchip bunnies, they don’t need to give desexing vouchers or vaccinate the bunnies they sell. Every back-yard breeder and pet shop pushes bunnies as a perfect first pet, easy to look after. The sad fact is that they are not an easy first pet, they are not a child’s pet nor are they suitable as a first pet. Bunnies can be very expensive once you get them home in regard to illness and damage around the home unless you know what you have to be aware of, both in terms of bunny proofing and illness.
At this rescue we aim to educate every single future bun parent or family. It’s our main priority as we don’t want them coming back!
We take the time and put in the effort to spend one on one time to make sure you know what you are looking at if you spend a measly $195 on a pet rabbit.
Just recently we had a family in where the kids had “done their research”. My first question to them was what should bunnies eat most of the time? The answer from the eldest was “rabbit food & carrots!”
A few days later we lost a beautiful bun that was twice the weight he should have been. He had been surrendered by his loving family who had spoilt him rotten. So much so that it ultimately led to his death.
His skin was so stretched over his belly that you could not pinch any up. He just puddled on the ground. Once we stopped the greens & pellets his weight fell off him & he was beginning to move around again, to sit up instead of just blob. While he was being brushed his taught skin tore apart. Too thin to withstand being brushed! Our vet tried to save him, but it wasn’t possible. He passed away just hours after I received an email from the family where I have given my time & energy to help them understand that rabbit food & carrots were not a healthy bunny diet, telling me my information session was condescending. That I was the reason her children could not have a pet rabbit as her husband was unhappy about my presentation. I was talking to children! I also do not sugar coat the complexities of pet rabbits.
I do this personal one on one talk to every potential family/adopter so they know what can happen. Understand what is expected from a bunny & for a bunny to have a happy life & fit into a family home. We don’t want them returned because they didn’t know how hard they would be! This family will most likely head to a pet shop, buy 2 bunnies & end up with an unexpected litter. We all make sexing mistakes, even vets, so how on earth can a staff member in a pet shop sex a rabbit? Or a non-rabbit savvy vet for that matter?
I don’t get paid for my time, I do it because I actually care about the welfare of the bunnies that pass through this refuge. We are not a forever home, rather a half-way house. Some have come from beautiful homes that for one reason or another cannot keep them anymore, others come from hellish conditions so feel like they have a perfect home now, but an even better one is somewhere in the future.
Today I am so sad. The most likely reason for the rejection of adopting from us is that the dad was scared off by possible medical costs in the future, but it was easier to blame my information as the reason why the children now miss out on adopting bunnies. Then I think of poor Puddles who was loved to death because his former owner thought they were doing the right thing.
All of us from the refuge will cry for Puddles but who else will?
After all he was just a rabbit!
R.I.P Puddles