Starting up a rescue!Advice?PLZ!

[Haley]

As others have suggested, I would reallyrecommend getting involved with a pre-existing shelter/rescue first. Inever dreamed how much work itwas until I started helping outat a local rabbit rescue.

At times, they house over 100 rabbits all in need of homes. And thereare so many that they cannot take in, who end up being euthanized inthe humane society and animal control centers because there just isntany room in the shelter.

So if I were you, I would get involved with HRS or any type of rabbitrescue near you. Some even need people to volunteer as foster homes, soyou can always help out that way. Its seriously a huge committment totake in rescues, so please give it a lot of thought.

Best wishes

Haley

 

[katt]

another thing is you have to be ready to be slapped as a bad person for breeding (even if you are taking in unwanted animals).

about4 years ago, i was a breeder, i contacted a michiganrabbit rescue (who i won't name) and told them that i had the housingsetup, funds, and time to dedicate to fostering 1 possibly 2 rabbits. itold them i had experiance working with troubled animals and i would bewilling to take in rabbits with social issues to help work on them. igot a string of nasty emails telling me that they would NEVER considerplacing a rabbit with me because i bred (it didn't matter how often ibred, or how carefull i was in selling rabbits to pet homes). eventhough i had contacted them because by word of mouth i heard they werein major need for foster homes. it didn't matter that i was a goodbunny home, that i was willing to take in 'unadoptable' rabbits andwork with them, or that i had great indoor bunny homes setup. . . ibred rabbits, and therefor was worth scum to them.

i am not saying that it wasn't wrong of them, i mean to be aroundtossed aside rabbits 24/7 would make me a little bitter to breedersalso, but their dealing of it was rude and uncalled for (i won't evenbegin to detail the names and comments that were in the emails). rescuework can be hard for breeders.

and when i did take rabbits in while i bred, that were dumped andtossed aside, it was hard for me to place them as most people wanting apet came looking foracute purebred little baby.

so, my advice is to fallow as other have stated, get working with analready established rescue. that way you can learn about rescue work,and get an idea to if it is something you can handle. but be aware thatyou will get many doors in the face the minute a rescue knows you are abreeder.

 

[MaevePotter]

Honestly, I know you have the rabbits bestinterests at heart, but I think you are too young for such a hugeundertaking. Before you start your own, you should really getexperience in rescue by volunteering at a shelter of any kind for along time. I mean no offense, but you are not even spelling thingscorrectly on here, which also makes it hard for me at least to take youseriously or find you very grounded and responsible. You sound veryexcited which is awesome, because animals do need help, but please tryvolunteering first. I know a lot of would be rescues gone out of handand turned into hording situations due to inexperienced people.

 

[missyscove]

Speaking as a 16 year old, also a shelter volunteer...

As a 14/15 year old, where will you be a few years from now?Hopefully in college, right? As you get up in highschool,you might not have the time to give to a bunch ofrabbits. Unless you have some kind of job where you make abunch of money, I doubt you can afford the feed costs and vet fees arescue would require.

I definately agree that you should look into fostering. Youmight still be a little young for volunteering as I know the ones nearme wouldn't let me volunteer until I was at least 16 for insurancereasons. If you can find a shelter or a rescue, definatelyjoin in and help them.

A well established rescue can always use more foster homes.However, they would have ultimate responsibility for therabbits. That way if you find you need to move on, the rescuecan still carry on without you.

Good luck!

 

[MyBoyHarper]

I fully agree with everyone here and what theyhave said. 15 is too young to run a rescue. The biggest reason isfunds. You're too young to get a job, or be responsible to take a sickanimal to the vet. Meaning, no money and no transportation, then what?

I'm 22, and I ran a rodent and rabbit rescue for 3 years. I firstworked at a pet store as the animal department manager for 2 years. Istarted taking in the sick, injured, and unwanted rabbits from them.Afterwards, I started up a rescue and dealt mostly with abused,neglected and dumped hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, rabbits, gerbils, anda few reptiles.

At one point, I was going through 50 pounds of hamster seed and 50pounds of rabbit feed a week. I was going through a 50 pound sack ofguinea pig food TWICE a week. This was just food.It also costme a fortune because so many came in needing vet care, antibiotics,other medications, supplements like laxatone and nutrical and lots ofit, extra water bottles because I had animals that would chew throughthere's every other night, and LOADS AND LOADS of bedding. And I hadanimals that were allergic to aspen, some were allergic to carefresh,so I was always having to buy different beddings to suit their needs.

Running a rescue is very costly and extremely time consuming. And youmust be prepared with adequate space, lots of time, and a heck of a lotof money. Just because you get the animals in, doesn't mean they'll beadopted out right away.

At one point, I had several rabbits waiting for adoption and close to40 hamsters, mice, rats, and gerbils. Some sat here months waiting forpotential homes.

Being in highschool, it's not do-able for you to run a rescue. You needa network of volunteers to help you. I had several people who helped meget food, bedding, screen potential homes, and do transporting ofadopted animals. With a rescue, you need a vehicle and quite a fewvolunteers who also have vehicles, money, and free time.

Eventually, I got out of therescuing business last year afterthe time and money got too overwhelming. I now volunteer for the localrabbit rescue that my friend runs. Currently we have 42 rabbits at herrescue and she goes through 100 pounds of feed a week. This doesn'tinclude vegetables, hay, and lots of vet care costs. We also have many,many, MANY volunteers working with us in transporting and adoptinganimals.

All these things are things to consider before ever jumping intorescuing animals. There's much more to it than just taking in a bunchof rabbits and being very unprepared.

I'm just thinking of the well-being of the animals.

 

[lovethetailyall]

aww thanks! mommys! lol!!OK i think i may just foster like a rabbit.and im goign to get involed in shelters!!!love yalls!



Heza~

 

[ec]

I think volunteering is a great idea!

Re. good shelters, the rabbit rescue where I adopted my bun has hadsome buns there for well over a year. People tend to adopt lops morequickly than other breeds, and (for whatever reason) black rabbits area *very* tough "sell." The shelter manager and others told me that Iwas kind of an exception, by asking for their advice on which bunnieswere friendly, etc.