Dear Friends of the Rabbit Center,

We are happy to announce that almost all of the shelters participating in
the Fair Share program who requested educational and rabbit care materials
from House Rabbit Society have received their materials. Participating
shelters received 200 copies of the HRS Living with a House Rabbit brochure
plus a brochure holder; 30 copies of a brand new care packet for rabbit
adoptions; 3 framed handouts for the rabbit room at the shelter regarding
feeding, handling, and rabbit myths; and a selection of forms and other
materials useful to shelter staff regarding rabbit care, adoptions, and
more. Thanks to Gina Brennan, Terry Linscott, Sandy Loey and Sara Scott for
all their work in photocopying and compiling these materials!

Following are updates from some of our Fair Share volunteers on the
goings-on at the shelters at which they volunteer. Please consider helping
out at your local shelter (contact information for each shelter volunteer
follows each report) or making a donation of food, toys, or money to help
the rabbits in Bay Area shelters. Thank you, and Happy Holidays to you and
your human and animal family.

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Alameda County Animal Shelter, Dublin:

It's been a busy month at the Dublin (East County) Animal Shelter. We were
overwhelmed with bunnies earlier this month, and had to pull 8 bunnies into
foster care because of overcrowding, and there are still four great bunnies
at the shelter for adoption.

Many thanks to Marcy Schaaf at SaveABunny.com for pulling one of the injured
bunnies, a bunny with no nose, into foster care. Of the remaining 7:
- Bronwyn (f/s), a sweet agouti mix, was adopted
- Charity (f/s), an abused, malnourished, filthy baby holland lop is in
foster care and recovering nicely both her form, her fur, and her love for
people
- Sheila (f/s), a perky 4-month old purebred chocolate Dutch is enjoying
playing with a gaggle of kittens in her foster home
- Pancho (m/n), a medium-sized chinchilla mix is friendly and happy and
loves to binky all over the bunny run
- Domino (m), Squeakers (m), and Lina (f): adorable 6-week old baby bunnies
who were found in a dumpster in Livermore, covered in motor oil. We had to
bottle feed the babies at first (3 weeks old), but they are growing and are
eating on their own now. Squeakers picked up his name from the cute sounds
he made as he was bottle feeding.

All of the above (minus Bronwyn) and the four great bunnies at the shelter
need homes.

We are in urgent need of foster homes for bunnies during the month of
December as the shelter tends to fill up alarmingly during this period as
people tend to dump their pets for the holidays; if you can help foster that
month, please contact me at 925-447-2130. We are also always in need of
volunteers for the shelter to help clean cages and socialize the bunnies.

Many thanks to House Rabbit Society who donated 4 cages to the Dublin
Shelter to help move bunnies from tiny wire-bottom cages into modern
habitats. We are in urgent need of Carefresh litter for the shelter for
litter boxes. Other needs include toilet paper tubes (for bunny toys), small
cardboard boxes, and other inexpensive disposable bunny toys. If you can
donate
any of these items (especially Carefresh) please stop by the shelter at 4595
Gleason Drive, Dublin, CA 94568. Hours are 11:30am - 5:30pm daily. If you do
not feel comfortable going to the shelter directly, please call me at
925-447-2130 for donation pickup.

Thank you for reading about our shelter. We are doing our best to ensure the
health and happiness of our shelter rabbits.

Marisa Price
bunny@aino.com , 925-447-2130
Dublin East County Animal Shelter (ECAS)
http://shelters.saveabunny.com/categories.php?cat_id=10

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Watsonville Animal Shelter:

The Watsonville Animal Shelter has filled up again and adoptions have slowed
for all animals, as is typical during the holidays. The last five rabbits
that have come in have been sick or injured. Only one had to be euthanized
due to a deep spinal injury. We are trying to treat the others for wounds
and/or URI but holiday travel limits our foster homes and staffing is short.
We are also getting a lot of guinea pigs, which is not typical for our area.
All have required fur or skin mite treatment and have to be separated from
our resident guinea pigs and rabbits. Luckily Rabbit Haven has facilitated
the rescue of the last 7 guinea pigs that have come in with severe mite
infestations. Our bonded pairs and black rabbits continue to be a challenge
to get adopted and we are open to advice or suggestions on placing them.

We are very excited about the Fair Share Literature and are going to make an
education area for the rabbits and small animals. Thanks go out to the
volunteers who spent a large amount of time making copies. The Friends of
the Watsonville Animal Shelter (www.FOWAS.org) continues to support
experienced medical care for our rabbits, provides Rabbit Haven two free
spay/neuter certificates each month, and they have donated $200 to Phoenix
and Saveabunny/Marin HRS. I would encourage volunteers that are struggling
to get proper medical care for their rabbits to become involved in the
non-profit part of their shelter as an advocate for the "other" animals.

Happy Hollidays to everyone!

Lara Walker
Rabbit Volunteer-Watsonville Shelter
http://www.scanimalservices.us/rescue4.htm

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Fairmont Animal Control:

With a dump of 13 rabbits in one night, Fairmont is stretched far beyond its
resources. I sexed all the animals, putting all the females in two small
cages, the males in another, and taking the mama and two youngest babies to
my house for foster. The staff have been very cooperative about the crowded
conditions and extra work, though the bunnies need much more space than they
have. In addition, the Friends of Fairmont Animal Shelter (FOFAS) has
gotten all spayed and neutered at their own expense. These volunteers have
also helped distribute flyers about the urgent need for good homes, and they
are working with the local paper to publish an article about the rabbits'
plight. Because donations have dropped severely in the wake of Katrina, the
$600 vet bill has stretched FOFAS' resources badly, so if you can make a tax
deductible donation to their organization, you will be supporting a very
fine group of volunteers, and you can be assured that 100% of your funds
will go towards the care of abandoned animals. The link is www.fofas.org,
and their phone number is 510-352-0598.

These 13 rabbits appear to be from the same mother and father, and most are
six months old or less. All look like they were well cared for, with
healthy skin and coat and a sparkle in their eyes. Most are grey and white
with some brown highlights, and they have lovely satin or rex fur. The
whole family are calm and gentle, yet unafraid and happy, and they treat
each other well, even in these taxing conditions. If you know of anyone
looking for a beautiful young baby (or five!), send them our way!

We are desperate for volunteers who can help exercise and groom these sweet
bunnies, and we would appreciate donations of food, litter or money. On
behalf of the rabbits, thank you.

Karen Johanson
Rabbit Volunteer-Fairmont Shelter
KJohanson@MENKE.com
http://www.fofas.org/display.php?menutype=others

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Berkeley Animal Care Services:

Berkeley Animal Care Services continues to do a fairly good job at adopting
out some pretty amazing bunnies. They receive an average of four per week
and adopt out at an average of 2 per week. So, they always have them, but
they don't keep them too long. RabbitEARS recently rescued a mother and six
babies, who are being fostered by Heather who has an orphaned baby needing a
surragate. The staff is very receptive to training and are proud of their
record on adoptions (and no euthanizations in over 4 years!). The bad news
is that rabbits are housed outside, with the barking dogs and crowing
roosters, and winter is coming on.

Berkeley East Bay Humane Society still refuses to take in rabbits, raising
questions about exactly what a local animal shelter does or should do.
Anyone who might like to voice an opinion to them directly, please email
info@berkeleyhumane.org. Perhaps a more aggressive campaign in the early
spring in advance of the Easter Bunny would be in order. If anybody has any
ideas about what might work (petition? letter-writing? bribery?), please let
me know. Email judy@rabbitears.org.

Judy Hardin
Rabbit Volunteer-Berkeley Shelter
judy@encounterbooks.com
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/animalservices/adopt.html

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Hayward Animal Shelter:

Dropoffs seem to be slowing at Hayward (knock on wood!), although I'm still
quite concerned about Cherie, a beautiful little mini-rex who is extremely
sweet and well mannered (check out her picture on Virtual Pet Adoptions!). A
number of people admired her at our adopt-a-thon last week, and I'm hoping
someone adopts her soon because she's been there the longest and, as usual,
the shelter is full. An associated rescue group received a $200 donation
specifically for the bunnies. I'm hoping maybe we can use it to set up a
bunny play yard, both to facilitate exercise time for the residents and to
show off their playful side. I'm always amazed when people suggest, as they
often do, that rabbits never do anything but sit and stare; it would be nice
to give visitors a demonstration of what else bunnies do. I haven't gotten
the literature to the shelter yet and it will take awhile to assess their
reaction, so more on that next time. I'm currently working on getting staff
to distribute hay daily.

Elizabeth Berg
Rabbit Volunteer-Hayward Animal Shelter
elizabethberg@earthlink.net
http://www.ci.hayward.ca.us/webware/Default.aspx?Message=209&t=-1

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Oakland Animal Services:

This holiday season is shaping up to be a brutal one for East Bay shelter
rabbits. On Nov. 18, Animal Control Officers confiscated thirty 2 to 3 week
old bunnies from an Oakland Flea Market. The babies were in small cardboard
boxes, without food or water. OAS was already well over capacity with
rabbits when the babies arrived. Beginning the week of Thanksgiving, it
seemed as though people couldn’t dump rabbit(s) in the night-drop boxes fast
enough. The ever increasing number of mature rabbits, coupled with the baby
confiscation and a severe decline in adoptions put OAS in a precarious
situation.

Fortunately, we had a few adoptions last week which eased our adult
situation a bit but, the babies are growing quickly and need to be split
into small groups. We have no spare cages. OAS is actively seeking
fosterers. The Oakland Tribune will be running a story about the babies and
hopefully, OAS will find some community support in this overcrowding crisis.
Please, if you can foster a baby or two, it would help tremendously. If you
can volunteer at OAS, even for an hour, to handle and play with the babies
to help socialize them, that would be an enormous help as well.

We are seeing an increase in rabbits needing medical care. Ear mites are
commonplace and we have had our share of seriously abscessed rabbits as
well. Sincere thanks to those of you who stepped in and took some of these
bunnies in for medical foster care. Karen Courtemanche took in and treated
Kibo, a little boy with a harsh case of fur mites, who has since recovered
and is available for adoption. Sioux, a flea-infested, emaciated little girl
with mouth abscesses and malocclusion, found safe haven with the
ever-supportive SaveABunny
(http://www.saveabunny.com/specialneeds2.php?id=622). Donations are needed
so that Sioux can have life-saving jaw surgery. Please think of Sioux when
you are working on your holiday To-Do list.

FANTASTIC NEWS: Starting January 1, Oakland Animal Services will open its
doors to the public every Sunday, from noon to 4:00. Kudos to Sergeant Dave
Cronin and Megan Webb for making this much requested option a reality.

Many thanks to Dr. Bing (SFACC) and Dr. Carolynn Harvey (VCA/Oakland) for
generously donating their time to spay and neuter the OAS adult population.
OAS also thanks Kerry Sullivan for fostering 7 of the tiniest babies who
needed supplemental nutrition. And, thanks to Karen Courtemanche, beautiful
Patti Jean will find forever sanctuary at Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in
Tracy.

OAS and the Rabbit Volunteers sincerely thank House Rabbit Society for all
the support we receive from the Fair Share program. The recently received
Shelter Literature packages are chockfull of important information for
shelter staff, volunteers and for those interested in rabbit adoption. The
framed fact sheets are wonderful and, as soon as we find the shelter hammer,
will be hung in the front hallway for public view.

Besides fosterers and adopters, our greatest needs are toys for the babies,
produce for the adults and more volunteer support to help care for the 49
OAS rabbits.

On behalf of the rabbits at Oakland Animal Services
The OAS Rabbit Volunteer Team
Connie Cwynar and Tim Burns
c.cwynar@sbcglobal.net
http://www.oaklandanimalservices.org/index.php?z=4

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Marin Humane Society:

There are currently 7 rabbits available for adoption at the Marin Humane
Society. If you are looking for a snuggly bunny, you will have a difficult
decision deciding between Malika and Margarita. Even though these two
rabbits are not bonded, they act very much alike. Both will jump into your
lap and both love to place their paws on your shoulder. Malika is a
beautiful chocolate brown rabbit and Margarita is snow white and soft. Both
are on the small side--approximately 4 lbs. Fonzie is a young playful male
approximately 6 lbs. who is white with a few dark markings. He is also very
sweet and loves attention.

Debra Mendelsohn
SaveABunny, San Francisco/ Marin House Rabbit Society
www.saveabunny.com
http://www.marin-humane.org/main_adoptions.html#Small

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San Francisco Animal Care and Control:

San Francisco Animal Control is experiencing unprecedented overcrowding with
21 rabbits in a space intended for 8-10. Adoptions and foster homes for
these bunnies and bunnies from our foster center are urgently needed, to
make room for new rescues.

The overcrowding is partly a result of two custody cases at SFACC, involving
rabbits in neglect situations. In one case, a man was cited for having left
7 baby lops and dwarfs outside in a cage on his roof for several days in the
rain without food or water. Animal Control Officers impounded the rabbits
and the case is scheduled to be heard in court. Meanwhile , the rabbits are
being held in custody at the shelter and are not able to be moved out of the
shelter for foster or adoption. This is creating a problem with available
space to house rabbits and other small animals. There are also a large
number of super- cute and highly adoptable rabbits at risk due to space,
including handsome Harry---one of the nicest, sweetest and mellowest bunnies
we've met in a while, goofy lop boy Jazz, smart and active Veronica and
little spotty Franz, plus many more. To learn more about these precious
rabbits, please see http://www.saveabunny.com/sfacc2.php
(Not all available SFACC bunnies are pictured, since more came in the last
few days).

In the other neglect case, three baby rabbits were being sold by a homeless
man in the San Francisco Mission District. These three month old harlequin
dwarf siblings, two girls and a boy, were cramped into a tiny, dirty,
cracked glass aquarium and were confiscated by Animal Control Officers.
Because of the rabbits age, frightened demeanor and overcrowding at the
shelter , these three sweet, ,but shy little bunnies came to our foster
center. We are seeking a patient and loving foster home for them to blossom.
Their pictures can be seen at
http://www.saveabunny.com/available2.php?id=621

This holiday season, if you can offer a short term foster home for one or
two rabbits until the first week of January, please contact me ASAP.

Thanks!

Marcy Schaaf
Chapter Manager
SaveABunny, San Francisco/ Marin House Rabbit Society
www.saveabunny.com
http://www.sfgov.org/site/acc_page.asp?id=6610

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Please visit http://shelters.saveabunny.com/ and
http://www.rabbit.org/rabbit-center/fair_share/index.htm to find out more
about Bay Area shelters and to see rabbits from shelters all over the Bay
Area. Thank you for your compassion and caring!

The HRS Fair Share for Rabbits Team