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How Many Rescues Bond Non-Rescue Bunnies When Asked?

The Duchess

Wise Old Thumper
I am just wondering how many rescues (not rescuers but the actual rescues) are able to bond rabbits that are not their own? In otherwords, those where it doesn't mean a rabbit being adopted to live with another?

I used to do this, but I can no longer spare the time or energy to do it. I am getting more and more requests, which could be for many reasons or course like more people being aware of rabbits needing friends, more people buying rabbits but not realising that they can fall out, more people finding rabbits from preloved etc but who haven't thought about how to put them together with their existing?

I have had to say a blanket no now to everyone where it's not for an adoption from me because I can't do more than I already do.

Do any of you other lovely rescue people have the same problem? Do any other rescues still manage to find the time to bond non-rescue rabbits?

It's so hard as some folks end up asking because of really good intentions, but I am getting more and more where someone has bought the rabbits from a shop or breeder with no advice and then shout for help when the poop hits the fan and the rabbits fall out.

Just interested to know :)
 
I only know of one..
all the others near me dont have the time for it.
The one i do know who does it asks for adoption fee to be paid which i think is fair.

:love:
 
I only know of one..
all the others near me dont have the time for it.
The one i do know who does it asks for adoption fee to be paid which i think is fair.

:love:

Absolutely fair :D and I'd have to do the same as a contribution, but it's no longer even about the money for me - I simply don't have time.

I think rescues have never been busier and I don't actually mean in a good way, in other words because they are rehoming more, I think in most cases it's just in day to day running and more bunnies coming in needing more healthcare. That really takes it out of me for sure.
 
Something I have always wondered is do Rescues who offer Bonding Help have some sort of legal disclaimer drawn up for the owner to sign? I would be utterly terrified of bonding someone else's Rabbits :shock:

Of course one would hope that no-one would apportion blame if a bonding attempt led to an injured Rabbit, but people being people I would think covering for the possibility of some sort of legal issue might be a good idea :?
 
When I got Roland, the rescue didnt say anything.As long as I had another rabbit for him to be bonded to, they werent bothered.
They didnt even say that if the bond failed I was to take him back but I wouldve done.

BARC were great.Despite the miles, Little Miss would have gone back..but the marriage was a happy affair.And she wears the trousers...:lol:
 
Something I have always wondered is do Rescues who offer Bonding Help have some sort of legal disclaimer drawn up for the owner to sign? I would be utterly terrified of bonding someone else's Rabbits :shock:

Of course one would hope that no-one would apportion blame if a bonding attempt led to an injured Rabbit, but people being people I would think covering for the possibility of some sort of legal issue might be a good idea :?

I didn't used to Jane but then an RU member on here sent me the disclaimer that she used and I have used that in the past.

It is a real issue because which owner (if it's two different owners putting together one pair for example) pays?

I have luckily only ever had one bond that had a rabbit needing treatment (fingers crossed for no more) and I ended up paying as it was only a consult with Gill and a small amount of treatment - and it was for an adoption from TRC, but you are quite right - too much responsibility to be honest.
 
I didn't used to Jane but then an RU member on here sent me the disclaimer that she used and I have used that in the past.

It is a real issue because which owner (if it's two different owners putting together one pair for example) pays?

I have luckily only ever had one bond that had a rabbit needing treatment (fingers crossed for no more) and I ended up paying as it was only a consult with Gill and a small amount of treatment - and it was for an adoption from TRC, but you are quite right - too much responsibility to be honest.

I just couldn't do it. Thank goodness there are people who can !!
 
I'd be interested to know which rescues DO do bonding, I'd love for someone to bond my three for me!! It's hard bonding on your own turf, not so much the time but the space, and looking for somewhere neutral. The amount of stuff we've had to move to set up two four by two pens and somewhere for me to sleep. It must take up an awful lot of time though!
 
I'd be interested to know which rescues DO do bonding, I'd love for someone to bond my three for me!! It's hard bonding on your own turf, not so much the time but the space, and looking for somewhere neutral. The amount of stuff we've had to move to set up two four by two pens and somewhere for me to sleep. It must take up an awful lot of time though!

And this is the thing, I have a job (beit only part time), a family, our own pets, and a home to run (or not in my case recently LOL) so spare time is hard to find.

I think most rescuers, no in fact pretty much all rescuers I know, actually have a job and/or family too so it's blinking hard to try and help others in addition to those in your own rescue.

So come on rescues, fess up, which ones can still manage to bond for others? :D
 
There's not much you can do at the same time either. Can you tell I'm watching bunnies non stop and am bored?!
 
Something I have always wondered is do Rescues who offer Bonding Help have some sort of legal disclaimer drawn up for the owner to sign? I would be utterly terrified of bonding someone else's Rabbits :shock:

Of course one would hope that no-one would apportion blame if a bonding attempt led to an injured Rabbit, but people being people I would think covering for the possibility of some sort of legal issue might be a good idea :?

yes .. we have a disclaimer :wave:
 
When I got Roland, the rescue didnt say anything.As long as I had another rabbit for him to be bonded to, they werent bothered.
They didnt even say that if the bond failed I was to take him back but I wouldve done.

BARC were great.Despite the miles, Little Miss would have gone back..but the marriage was a happy affair.And she wears the trousers...:lol:

:oops: thank you :p
 
I am just wondering how many rescues (not rescuers but the actual rescues) are able to bond rabbits that are not their own? In otherwords, those where it doesn't mean a rabbit being adopted to live with another?

I used to do this, but I can no longer spare the time or energy to do it. I am getting more and more requests, which could be for many reasons or course like more people being aware of rabbits needing friends, more people buying rabbits but not realising that they can fall out, more people finding rabbits from preloved etc but who haven't thought about how to put them together with their existing?

I have had to say a blanket no now to everyone where it's not for an adoption from me because I can't do more than I already do.

Do any of you other lovely rescue people have the same problem? Do any other rescues still manage to find the time to bond non-rescue rabbits?

It's so hard as some folks end up asking because of really good intentions, but I am getting more and more where someone has bought the rabbits from a shop or breeder with no advice and then shout for help when the poop hits the fan and the rabbits fall out.

Just interested to know :)

as you ...used to but no longer have the time ... we have all on to keep up with our own bondings ... :?
 
Hi,

We do! Its an important part of rabbit welfare encouraging anyone to keep bonded pairs or small groups, so we don't see bonding as part of a sales pitch - its just one of the many things we do.

It's also good for increasing our level of supporters and the next time their looking for a new bunny to join their clan they're more likely to come to us :)

For those who haven't adopted from us we would ask for a small donation for our time.
 
Disclaimer is an interesting one though - never needed so far thankfully, but would be interested to see any example disclaimers others use.
 
It would be interesting to know of the disclaimers are actually legally binding as well. I had a friend who took on a rabbit with the intention of rehoming it, just to get it out of the situation it was in. She wrote up her own paperwork to say the new owners must give the rabbit back if they could no longer keep it. She then found out they had given the rabbit to someone else. She tried to get the rabbit back and the police said basically the agreement wasn't worth :censored: and she wasn't entitled to take the rabbit back.
Maybe the police just didn't want to get involved in a civil dispute though.
 
Legally, most paper work used by rescues doesn't have a chance. It's more of a "gentleman's agreement" than anything, as there are virtually no legal support in place for a rescue situation. We cannot ever enforce the return of an adopted animal (legally) - best we can do is hope people think we can :)
 
Hi,

We do! Its an important part of rabbit welfare encouraging anyone to keep bonded pairs or small groups, so we don't see bonding as part of a sales pitch - its just one of the many things we do.

It's also good for increasing our level of supporters and the next time their looking for a new bunny to join their clan they're more likely to come to us :)

For those who haven't adopted from us we would ask for a small donation for our time.

This is why I always used to do it too. But as demand grows something has to give sadly. I spend a lot of time trying to educate, but not by staying up every night to bond other peoples bunnies.

How many people bond bunnies for Fairlybeloved? Is it just you? How many are the 'we'?

Out of interest, if someone chose not to adopt from you (maybe they wouldn't have passed a homecheck lets say) and went to a pet store instead and bought two singles or two bunnies that have fallen out fairly soon after purchase, would you still bond?
 
If the conditions the rabbits are being kept in meet our criteria, we'd bond regardless of where they went to. We would lay it on pretty thick about why pet shop rabbits are making the situation worse for everyone though.

If the setup didn't meet our requirement, we'd look to work with them to make the necessary changes FIRST, then look at bonding.

At the moment bonding is just myself & my wife (we run the charity). However, we have more time to do this because our rescue relies primarily on foster carers to care for the rabbits in our network - so we're not directly caring for all the rabbits. That might change as we're in the process of building a new setup that would allow us to have around 24 rescue rabbits at our own home, as well as the various others throughout the foster network (we will always prioritise placements into foster care before our own setup as the home environment and direct care they get from a foster carer prepares them better for rehoming than they would get in a "mini shelter" where attention is split across a number of rabbits).

If it came to it, we do have access to other volunteers in our network who can help with bonding from time-to-time too.
 
If the conditions the rabbits are being kept in meet our criteria, we'd bond regardless of where they went to. We would lay it on pretty thick about why pet shop rabbits are making the situation worse for everyone though.

If the setup didn't meet our requirement, we'd look to work with them to make the necessary changes FIRST, then look at bonding.

At the moment bonding is just myself & my wife (we run the charity). However, we have more time to do this because our rescue relies primarily on foster carers to care for the rabbits in our network - so we're not directly caring for all the rabbits. That might change as we're in the process of building a new setup that would allow us to have around 24 rescue rabbits at our own home, as well as the various others throughout the foster network (we will always prioritise placements into foster care before our own setup as the home environment and direct care they get from a foster carer prepares them better for rehoming than they would get in a "mini shelter" where attention is split across a number of rabbits).

If it came to it, we do have access to other volunteers in our network who can help with bonding from time-to-time too.

Thanks David. That all makes sense.

I think part of the problem with requests made to rabbit specific rescues is that for the most part, people that make enquiries don't always know how 'big' or professional the rescue is. Maybe in some cases people aren't aware that the set up is something in peoples back gardens run alongside their normal lives. Of course there are much bigger set ups like Wood Green, Burford Blue Cross that are very large mixed species charities but in the main, most bunny rescues I know are of assorted sizes but run privately with very little help financially or practical.

I have all but 2 of the 26 rescue rabbits in my care here on site, on top of my own/longterm 20, so that is a diffence that prevents me from taking on any more work. I have a few really good girlfriends who come over to drink tea and clean out a couple of times a week now so that makes a big difference to me, but still no-one who would wish to bond for people who need it.
 
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