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The current rescue situation...opinions?

abbymarysmokey

Wise Old Thumper
I was speaking to Celia who runs Kirkby Pet Welfare last night, and she says this year has been the worst she has known for people wanting to get rid of animals.

It's not even something as simple as the current economic climate making people give up their much loved pets...The number of unwanted litters is up, the number of people buying a young animal then deciding to get rid shortly afterwards is up, the number of strays is up....and apparently the number of animals arriving in poor/neglected condition is up too :(

Any other rescues noticed any worrying trends recently?
 
The number of unwanted litters is mad this year.

I've lost count as to how many I've been contacted about.:(

Even worst I've just discovered that I have a byb in my street breeding nethies, even brought the babies up here for me to sex.:roll:

The strays are now starting to come through the doors and in 11years of running the rescue I've closed the waiting list as I have no hope of it going down. There's still animals on it from the beginning of the year that I haven't managed to find room for yet. :?

Something definitely needs to be done, even if it's just getting the public to actually get there new rabbits properly sexed at the vets as soon as they get them.
I was talking to a local vet who I was visiting with a boarding rabbit and he was on about maybe having a neutering awareness campaign but only after they've done the cat one which is running until September.

I think every rescue is stressed out and overfull this year and I can't see an end to it sadly.
 
I don't suppose you have any thoughts as to the cause Tracy?

Celia deals with quite a lot of dogs was saying that the number of un-neutered dogs around has definitely increased. She thinks the RSPCA and other large organisations haven't promted neutering much in recent years, and should do a campaign.

That doesn't really explain the rise in unwanted rabbits though. I wonder if the increase in Pets at Home stores is partially to blame? Also I wonder if lack of parental control nowadays means that parents are allowing kids to breed animals, and they're ending up with more rabbits than they bargained for? I dunno :?
 
yes we have noticed an increase in all of the above ...dont know the reasons though..

definatly an increase in everything but especialy in strays and dumped animals .. and yes far more coming in needing vet treatment .
 
We've not been active long enough to know if there has been an increase, but I would guess that not neutering is also linked with the recession.
Basic treatments like neutering and vaccination are the first to drop, then more imporant vet treatments for actual illnesses when money gets tight, the next step is to get rid!

I also think that general attitudes are to blame, we live in a disposable society where many people do not have to take responsibility for their actions so when an animal is no longer wanted they get dumped.
I do wonder if numbers haven't really increased but rather awareness has- people know about rescues and they become an easy option when your fed up with your pet rather than work through problems.
 
I don't know about the dog situation as they're not something we get involved with.

But the rabbit situation does seem to be more down to the vast amount of litters being born.
I've spoken to owners trying to dump on us and the two main reasons are down too 'we thought we'd got two the same sex' or 'we thought we could make a bit of money but no-one wants them' they're all over the Things for sale on Facebook in our area.Although there's a lady shouting about staffy's in our local area at the moment and she's shoving people with rabbits to our page for advise.
I also see that people trying to get rid of them in the paper have been taking the advise on not giving them away for free but are now charging £15 per baby.

I think there really does need to be a big push on neutering rabbits or at least on getting them sexed properly as soon as they are purchased. But how you get that through to the public I don't know, I only wish I did.

In fact thinking about it I may put something together and see if I can't either get the local vets involved or at least the paper's.
Also may put something together and see if I can post on 'Things for sale' on the facebook site alot of people promote their businesses on there so it may get through to someone.
 
When I say I have rabbits and have a mixed group of boys and girls the first thing they say is 'do you have babies',it doesnt cross peoples minds that rabbits can be/need to be neutered. Also at around £90 a pop for neutering most idiot parents buying rabbits on a whim will no doubt baulk at spending that sort of money on 'an animal'. And the amount of people that buy same sex pairs as babies only to find half a dozen new ones at some point...
 
When I say I have rabbits and have a mixed group of boys and girls the first thing they say is 'do you have babies',it doesnt cross peoples minds that rabbits can be/need to be neutered. Also at around £90 a pop for neutering most idiot parents buying rabbits on a whim will no doubt baulk at spending that sort of money on 'an animal'. And the amount of people that buy same sex pairs as babies only to find half a dozen new ones at some point...

Agreed, I get this too, people dont seem to realise that rabbits CAN be neutered. And when i mention it, I often get the response that it is cruel.

I also get stared at, laughed at and generally just a shock reaction if I mention how much Barney in particular costs me in vets bills. My Dad (who would spend the money on a cat btw) says fairly regularly that he doesnt see why I dont get him put down and get a new one, because he is 'broken'. People see rabbits as a cheap childrens pet, something that just needs rabbit food and carrots and cleaning out once a week, something low maintenance. The rexes that I posted about on here, that are now at Winswhistle Warren rescue, I got out of their old home because the owners refused to take them to the vet for sexing (they knew lady who sexed them at 4 weeks:roll:), refused to separate the sexes (even though I offered them my cage!) and refused to vaccinate or neuter. It wasnt worth the money for them. They also didnt know that they would inbreed and wouldnt believe that they could breed before 6 months. Its a mixture of ignorance and apathetic attitude.
 
yes we've seen a huge increase in ones wanting to come in..loads of reasons all the same as previous years..just many more..our rehoming has been very slow for this last year which we think is partly down to the new PAH store having an "adoption" centre in it

think it is sadly just a sign of the times..people, especially, children , have everything they want these days ..they ask they get a no..they scream and the parents give in ..not only are most houses full of un neccessary possessions and toys..but animals fall into that " I want a rabbit..now I want a puppy instead...oh no it's too noisey so now I'd like an ipad instead " catergory :cry:
 
We are turning away about 10 rabbits per week, and about the same number of cats. We just dont have room. Rehoming is much much slower than normal. people just dont want to take on pets this year.
Until we rehome some, we cant help the new ones.
 
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