Our mission statement reflects our highest ideals for the organization and for the rabbits. We'll be focusing our efforts on the following five areas:
Rescue: To rescue domesticated rabbits by working cooperatively with individuals, shelters, pet stores, veterinarians, local governments, and other animal rescue organizations.
Adoption: To adopt the rabbits into loving and permanent homes; to facilitate successful adoptions by providing follow-up visits, information and advice to new adopters.
Health: To ensure that each rescued rabbit is spayed or neutered, health permitting; to provide vet care to injured, ill, or elderly rabbits; to provide quality lifelong care and hospice to un-adopted rabbits.
Education: To address the root causes of rabbit overpopulation and homelessness by educating the public regarding rabbit care, health, behavior, the benefits of spaying and neutering, and the benefits of adopting homeless animals.
Fiscal Responsibility: To maximize our rescue, adoption, education and health efforts on behalf of the rabbits by managing our resources in a frugal, transparent and fiscally responsible manner.
Use our Paypal feature to make your donations!
Or you may make checks or money orders payable to Midwest Rabbit Rescue & Re-home & mail them to:
Midwest Rabbit Rescue & Re-home
PO Box 980331
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
Donations are tax deductible! We are a 501(c)(3).
Contact Carol at 248-219-7679 or e-mail midwestrabbitrr@yahoo.com to join our Volunteer Corps!
Rabbit Care:
Foster Parents
Groomers
Health Checkers
Produce Prep
Feeders
Transporters
Companions
Office Work:
Open and process mail
Bank deposits
Bookkeeping
Newsletter design
Thank you notes
Database maintenance
Adoption Coordinator: Work with Adoption Director to facilitate adoptions, and follow up with adopters to ensure successful adoptions.
Kids Coordinator: Work with Volunteer Director to develop a children?s volunteer program.
Publicity Coordinator: Update local events calendars, prepare and send press releases, place flyers, organize publicity stunts, coordinate advertising.
Education Coordinator: Organize educational presentations for schools, clubs, hospitals, nursing homes, and special events.
Fundraising:
Donation Box Maintenance
Grant Writing
Events Organizer
Find rabbit info, read our newsletter and lots more http://www.geocities.com/midwestrabbitrr/index.html.
We work closely with Amy Carpenter of Bunny Safe Haven in Toledo. Amy is a wild cottontail expert. as well as a domestic rabbit rescuer. Check out her great work at http://www.geocities.com/safehaven902000/index.html.
Huron Valley Humane Society (not affiliated with the Michigan Humane Society) is an important and helpful part of our network. The vets at Huron Valley are kind and compassionate. Sherry Silk, the administrator is wonderful to work with and genuinely cares about the welfare of the animals.
Our rescued rabbits are all evaluated for temperament and health. Because of this, we are easily able to match the right bunny with the right caregiver, ensuring a close bond. As prey animals, rabbits do not reveal their personalities as quickly as the hunting animal, like dogs or cats. Although social, rabbits are not pack animals. They tend to form bonds with only one or two other bunnies, and their owners.
Rabbits are typically rescued after they are at least 4 months old - they are often given up when they reach sexual maturity and begin to exhibit typical adolescent unrest. Because there is a lot of erroneous information or people are just not informed, the original owners do not realize that a rabbit needs to be neutered or spayed both for its health and for its personality. Unspayed females have a high percentage of uterine cancer, and males testicular cancer. Unspayed females can be cage protective and become nervous "diggers", or pluck huge quantities of fur in a false pregnancy. Biting, growling, lunging, marking and obsessive behaviors often disappear completely after alteration in both males and females. This is when the owner can begin to really get to know their pet.
Rabbits have instinctually protective ways of dealing with stress. Interacting with a rabbit will involve a great deal of quiet observation and sitting on the floor with your pet, while she/he does little dances or bumps you with its nose, or, in a display of true love, will circle around you in soft little hops. Rabbits are a great pet for those who work during the day, since this is when they naturally sleep. Being crepuscular, they are active mostly at dawn and dusk, but they adjust wonderfully to any schedule.
It takes time to gain a rabbits trust. They like to sit quietly and evaluate both environment and people for a long time before deciding how they will deal with the situation. students.washington.edu. Whenever I take in a new rabbit, I leave it in its cage for several days, giving it pets and kisses whenever I bring food and treats. This gives the rabbit the opportunity to understand its new environment and me, and understand that its cage is its territory. This will minimize the peeing and marking outside its cage when allowed run time.
Rabbits prefer not to be picked up, since they feel more secure knowing they can flee if threatened. But they do like to sit next to their owner or in front of them while being petted. They love to sit quietly and watch the household. Once secure in their home, these fuzz balls can become fast friends with dogs or even cats. Slow, controlled introductions will suit everyone best.
A rabbit will be happiest in an environment with few changes, so that it is comfortable with predictable sounds and activities. Understanding your bunny requires patient observation and time just being together, quietly.
It is not difficult to adopt from us. We would like to get to know you a little and make sure that a rabbit is really the right pet for you. We ask that the rabbits be kept indoors since there are many problems and dangers with an outdoor pet.
In our experience, many bunnies are given up because of allergies. It is a good idea to handle a bunny before adopting in order to determine if you or a family member is allergic.
For the best information on rabbits, please visit every rabbit lover's favorite website, the House Rabbit Society at: House Rabbit Society
This site will give you info on how to build great cages inexpensively: http://members.aol.com/bunrabtoo/neatcubs.html
For instruction on how to build a Rabbit Condo out of NIC cubes, visit: http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/NIC.shtml
Click here for a list of pets at this shelter