Rabbit rescue update
The last of the bunnies were moved from their old back yard to the rescue ranch. (There may be a couple of stragglers still hiding out in warrens or under trailers, but essentially that stage of the rescue is now complete.) We had to hold on moving some of the rabbits until now because we had run out of space at the rescue ranch and had to build more pens.
Among this week's visitors to the rescue ranch was Cindy Sabatoni of Reno Animal Control, who came on an official inspection of the work. Many thanks to Cindy for her words of encouragement to the staff, volunteers, and veterinarians. "You have gone above and beyond," she told them.
A small setback on Thursday: the well ran dry! We are now trucking water in for the rabbits and essential operations, and getting motel rooms for the staff to take showers.
We had quite a few volunteers after the first round of media attention, but that has dropped off to three or four on the weekends and only one or two a day during the week. If you know anyone who can come to the ranch outside of Reno to help for a few days, please encourage them to let us know.
Health checks reveal that many of the rabbits have coccidian and round worms. We'll be getting back results of the first round of treatments to see if the current treatment is effective.
Shelley Thayer, who worked with Best Friends in New Orleans for more than five months after Hurricane Katrina, and who lives about three hours from Reno, has agreed to join the team in a management role. She and Paul Tharp (from the Best Friends Horse Haven) are working together as a team - he continuing to manage logistics and facilities while she coordinates health care, staff and volunteers, and the whole administrative side of things.
They make a great team.
This weekend is Earth Day, and the rescue team has secured a booth to promote the rabbit rescue work. We're planning to take a few of the rabbits who are comfortable in public. But it turns out, our booth will be right next to a wolf rescue booth! We'll have a visual barrier so the bunnies can't see the wolves, but if the wolves get the scent of them, we may have to put pictures of bunnies out instead of the real thing! We'll be hoping to attract more volunteers, donations, and adoption applications.
Photo by Clay Myers.