If you find out about one, and want to help, here are some tips:ġ.Ĝontact the authorities. House Rabbit Society volunteers have assisted in a number of large-scale rescue situations like this. Or you heard on the news about a collector whose 150 rabbits were just confiscated by Animal Control, overtaxing the shelter's resources and leading to probably wide scale euthanasia. Article on Trap, Neuter, Return in Animal Sheltering Magazine (Jan/Feb 2011) (pdf)Ī call comes in about a rabbit breeder who just skipped town, leaving 80 rabbits with no one to care for them.Trap, Neuter, Return: A Case Study (Powerpoint File).Current rabbit owners are also invited to socialize and meet other rabbit owners. to noon at the Barnes & Nobles in Naples.
The group encourages people who want to learn more about the rescue or adoption to attend their monthly meetings held the first Saturday of each month from 10:30 a.m. The founders will help new owners learn about rabbit care and will even make home visits. Rabbits adopted from the rescue are spayed or neutered. In the meantime they are looking for foster homes for the rabbits and for people to adopt the orphaned pets. After that they can raise money to help pay the vet bills. The group has hired to help them get their 501(c)(3) status. Hopefully as we do our education it will make a difference.” People assume rabbits go in a hutch outdoors - they are meant to be part of the family just like a cat or a dog. “They deserve the same respect as cats and dogs. “Next to cats and dogs they are the next most popular pet,” Walkup said. They have hutches with pens that wrap around them, giving the rabbits areas to hop and socialize. In her home, her rabbits live in a variety of enclosures that allow them to be part of the family. Rabbits can be easily litter box trained. Walkup wants people to see that rabbits aren’t just creatures to put in a hutch outside. If you work a lot, a dog might not be the best pet to have, but a rabbit would be.” We would like to reach out to these older people or working people. Traditionally people think of rabbits as a pet for a child. “In this area there are so many retirees and many are in condos and don't have the mobility to take a dog out or might not even allow dogs,” Macbeth began. The founders of Southwest Florida House Rabbit Rescue not only want to educate people about not releasing their rabbits, they want to educate people about adopting them. People think ‘open the door and they will do fine.’ People think that releasing them is giving them a chance and that is not true.” The cold might not kill them, but other things will. It’s the same thing with a lot of the little turtles and the snakes and birds. They think they can live out there because they see native rabbits. “People think because it is Florida and it is warm, they can just let them go. “People get them as pets and they think they are fun, and then they get tired of them,” Fitzgerald said. So Fitzgerald is happy to see this new group not only care for these rabbits, but bring awareness to their plight. The Conservancy isn’t permitted for domestic care. Most of the time they are in pretty terrible condition when they get here.”ĭomestic Animal Services will not care for an injured rabbit. “Most of them are very thin because they are not getting the proper food,” Fitzgerald said.
Citizen press newspaper find the rabbit how to#
The food is different, they can’t find water, they don’t know how to hide from predators, they are easily injured and get sick. We just haven’t had a lot of options up until now.”ĭomestic rabbits cannot survive in the wild. We are lucky we found this service because we didn’t know what to do with them. We don’t encourage that because they are not native. “Over the past year we had at least six that have come in. She is excited to see a new group forming to help. Joanna Fitzgerald, director of the von Arx Wildlife Hospital at the Conservancy, sees that often. They say there is a problem with rabbit owners putting their pets outside when they don’t want them anymore. The rabbit rescue is about education and awareness. Scott Medlin, of Medlin Exotic Animal Medical Services, offers the rabbits discounted care, but the ladies say it’s not just about the money. We don't have enough money to pay for the costs of the vets ourselves.” Right now we are limited, we don't have enough fosters. “When Domestic Animal Services or the Humane Society gets one we can be the liaison. “What we need are foster homes,” Koren said. The ladies now have between two and nine rabbits each in their homes. The rabbits not only come from outside, but from shelters that don’t want them.
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