Open House at the Cat and Bird

Many of our members take their bunnies to the wonderful vets at North Alabama Cat and Bird Veterinary Clinic. We are happy to say that we'll be at the Clinic's Open House this Sunday, July 10th, from 2 to 4 pm. We'll have an education table and several of the foster bunnies will be joining us. So if you would like to meet our vets and see the clinic, please come join us!

In the aftermath of the tornadoes that swept across our state of Alabama, we and the bunnies we love seem to be doing ok. But a dear friend of ours is not.

Marsha Weaver, who has The Cozy Cavy , lost her home and a number of her animals in one of the tornadoes. She and her family are ok, although her daughter was hospitalised. Their home is gone.

Marsha is such a good friend of the bunnies. She took this photo and others of our foster bunnies for our petfinder and web pages, and she has donated fleece and fleece pads for our sanctuary bunnies who need them. Marsha has also had a program to send her fleece products to guinea pigs in rescue all over the US. Her son, Kevin, is a special friend of our sanctuary bunny Esmeralda, who just loves him.

Marsha is just a sweet woman with a beautiful family. She needs our help now, and we want to encourage everyone who loves animals to donate to a fund that has been set up for her. You can read more about Marsha's situation here. To donate, please either donate at the Paypal site on this page with a note that states the donation is for Marsha!!! or go to the fund set up through Sponsor A Guinea Pig. Either way will work fine.

Here is a photo of Ace with one of the beautiful fleece pads that Marsha made for him. He has severe arthritis in his knees, and Marsha's pads have made his life so much more comfortable.

Thank you for helping Marsha - she is truly a real Friend of Rabbits!!

Media Blitz!!

It's been a wonderful week here! Bunnies have been in the news - and not with the usual "Easter Bunny" themes. In fact, quite the opposite!!

Our main fosterer, Ruth, did a segment with T.W. Starr of WAAY 31 about the problems associated with parents getting live bunnies for their children at Easter, and then discarding them. It was a very well done segment, and we appreciate how much effort T.W. and his cameraman put into it. The segment got the point across, and had some very cute footage of bunnies, too! If you want to see it go to WAAY's website then scroll down to the videos. You will probably have to click "Next Five Videos" several times before "Did You Know: Bunny Basket" comes up. Enjoy!!

Next, Yvonne Betowt of the Huntsville Times did a story on our very own Heather Van Dyke and our former foster bunny, Wolfie. They are an animal assisted therapy team with Therapy Partners, and Wolfie is Huntsville's first Delta Certified therapy bunny!!! You can read the article here.

It's so much fun to see them in the paper! Heather has worked very hard for the certification and Wolfie is a very special bunny.

We are very proud of them!!!

An Easter Message!

As most of you know, the issue of bunnies and Easter is very close to our hearts. We have to deal first hand with the number of bunnies who are purchased impulsively as Easter pets for children, only to be abandoned when Easter is over and the thrill has worn off. Starting immediately after the holiday we get calls and emails from parents who want to "get rid of" the bunny, or worse, from people who have found a bunny running stray. Often these bunnies are sick or injured. Even worse are the large groups that show up when people get two bunnies for Easter and don't realise they have a male and female. They think they have two females or two males....until the first litter shows up!! Not realising that bunnies can give birth the day they get pregnant, there are often two or three litters to deal with when people bring them to the shelter or turn them loose. That is a lot of bunnies for us to deal with in rescue - it's no fun at all, for us or the bunnies! Our member Donna wrote a heartfelt email to her friends about this issue, and we wanted to reproduce it here. Donna says: "The Easter season is fast approaching. It is a fun time of year. Some parents may be tempted to buy their children a soft, cute, live bunny. Even worse, buy one for their son and another for their daughter, without knowing the sex of each rabbit. Parents, you may want to really think about it, no matter how much your child begs. Bunnies are not like cats and dogs. Most rabbits do not like to be picked up. I have nine bunnies of my own. A doctor once asked me if I was being abused. He noticed all of the scratches and bruises on my arms. I told him "Yes, by my rabbits." When you pick them up, those big hind legs just push out. Rabbits are living creatures and they have feelings. When "Flop's" mate died, she grieved for a long time. Rabbits can live as long as ten years. Most veterinarians in the area are not as familiar with bunnies as they are with cats and dogs. If you have your mind made up to get a rabbit, check out places like Walmart. They have a huge selection of stuffed bunnies in every size and color imaginable. In a few weeks, when your child grows tired of the bunny and discards it, you will know you made the right choice of a stuffed one, and your child will not have been scratched or bitten." By the way, the cute little furballs in the photos are Donna's bunnies!

Guys and Bunnies Monday: Joe and Ziggy!!

It's Guys and Bunnies Monday!! Today we have the most wonderful photo of Joe and his newly adopted bunny, Ziggy!! Joe and Ziggy had a long distance relationship for awhile, since Joe lives in Boston and Ziggy was here with us. Normally we wouldn't do such a long distance adoption, but Joe is friends with our member, Christy, and he really developed a special bond with Ziggy! It took a lot of planning, and more research into airline policies on flying rabbits than I want to think about, but Ziggy made the trip a couple of weeks ago. He flew in the cabin with Joe, in a very swanky pet carrier! We just got a video of him doing binkies in his new place. You can see it on our Facebook page!

Foster Bunny Friday: Donatella

It's Foster Bunny Friday!! Our featured bunny this week is Donatella! Donatella is a very petite little Havana girl who has a very sweet disposition and is quite social. She loves to play with her toss toys, and her binkies are quite impressive! Donatella came into the shelter last summer with 20 of her family members, and after all these months she is definately ready for a perfect, loving home!

Men and Bunnies Monday: Joshua and Daizy

It's Monday, and time for our new feature: Men and Bunnies!! We know a lot of guys who love bunnies, but it seems like rabbits are thought of as a pet for girls/women. Inspired by the Vancouver House Rabbit Society's Men and Buns Calendar, we decided to show off some of our favorite men with their bunnies! Well, this is a very, very young man!! This is our member Brooke's son, Joshua, and one of their bunnies, Daizy. Brooke has had bunnies for years, and we were so happy to adopt Daizy and her sister Daffodil to her and her family a couple of years ago. Daizy and Daffodil came to us with three other young bunnies the week before Easter. They had been found running around a back yard with an older bunny. Daizy has gotten much bigger since then - why, she's almost as big as Joshua!! "Daizy is the sweetest bunny!" writes Brooke. "But Daffodil is a Diva!!" She also says that Joshua and Daizy have a special bond. They appear to be the best of friends. Daizy, you and Daff are some lucky bunnies to have such a handsome young man as a friend!