Gulliver at our fundraising table

[EileenH]

I don't know if any of you remember, but my wildlife hospital has an annual fundraiser, the WALK for Wildlife. I had a table at it this year, of Don't Release Your Pets. I had my red-eared slider, Sabrina there, an Eastern Box Turtle that lives at our hospital that someone took as a baby from the wild and then didn't want any more (turns out they fed her crap and she has metabolic bone disease, rendering her unreleasable)..and my bunny, Gulliver!
I also borrowed a white Peking duck because people like to get those also for Easter and then release them to the local park/pond..

I was so nervous to bring him, because I didn't know if it would be too stressful for him..he was GREAT! It was a beautiful day, he came running out for all the people to pet him. I spoke as strongly as I could about people not getting bunnies for Easter, and if you really want a bunny to adopt...I hope I made a dent in at least a few. People are so hard, you can tell they're not listening to you.

Without further ado, here are some pics - this photographer wasn't the greatest, so the pictures are a little grainy, but you get the idea:

This was Gulliver's set up - I had all the things from House Rabbit Society "Setting Your Rabbit Loose Doesn't Make Her Free, it Makes Her Food", Common Rabbit Myths..I spoke about how wonderful they are but they are not an easy child's pet.
The pictures on the left were him when I first got him,all skinny - then a now picture, and the one with the cuterebra coming out of his nose. Surprisingly, nobody was that grossed out by that....

Not the best picture, but still cute! Love that big head!

And here is my husband, Tom, showing him off to some kids.

After the whole WALK was over, one of my staff was asking people what they liked the best. Mind you - there were hawks,owls, turtles, opossums, craft tables...
More than one said, "the big white bunny!".
Don't know if that is good or bad, but he made me so proud, he was wonderful.

Thought I'd share.. Formore pictures of the our WALK, that are not rabbit-related, head on over to Let Your Hare Down, there are more there.
Edited: technical difficulties, thethread should be over there later today.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

How wonderful to see Gulliver. Plus, Learn of your education corral. Very cool that your husband got involved. Applause all the way around for educating on rabbits!:bouquet:

uugg, the stories of people releasing animals... I hope you got through to folks that rabbits are furry family members, for a unique group of humans, and need to poo 300 round marbles a day.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I would have come there, and stole him. :biggrin2:

 

[EileenH]

Haha! I was actually a little worried about that, which is one reason I wouldn't let anybody else man the table. I made sure I was right by his cage at all times.

I had his home set up there, and when people asked me what I kept him in at home, I said "Exactly this and it's right in my dining room". I did balance it out with what loving wonderful pets they are, if you are willing to make the time and commitment to them, and the vet care. A few people were shocked to learnhe wasneutered. I spent a long time explaining to them about spaying/neutering, and the vet expenses being the same as dogs/cats, etc..I know some people listened, but you know what they say - if you make a difference to 1 person, it's worth it - I know I did at least that.

As far as 300 marbles a day, he was considerate enough to poop tons during the day, so everybody could see how much poop they make - and, NONE of it was in the litterbox.

My husband is great - on his days off he comes to work with me and helps with the animals and does computer maintenance. When I first met him, he never had a pet and was allergic to cats!

 

[NorthernAutumn]

That's such a cool, educational Project! We need good ideas like that up here in the North. I'll keep this thought in the back of my head for someday...

Gulliver is such a wonderful bunny ambassador

 

[Bo B Bunny]

You know, lots of people say their bunnies are litterboxed trained and I always wonder if that's like...... perfectly trained? because mine all leave stray poos in their path!

 

[EileenH]

I always think that too - and many times when people put pictures up here, I seestray poops in the pictures.

Gulliver is pretty good at home - finally!!- but all bets were off that day. I hoped it wouldn't be the start of a bad habit, but as soon as he got home he was fine, even though he's never been perfect.