Huge thankyou to Windwhistle

Hi,

I don't post on here very often but I read a lot

Alice at Windwhistle has been helping me with a large rescue in Neath. I first heard of the rabbits through facebook. They were living free in someones garden and having babies all the time, the owner had been giving them away on facebook and gumtree and and selling them to pet shops, so goodness only knows where they ended up, she contacted me for help as she had ran out of friends and relatives to give them too and the pet shops didn't want to take the older ones.

When I went to have a look at what was going on there were two adult females running loose in the garden, a black male with them and two other young males in separate pens. There was a litter living in an open sided box and another litter had just been born in the chicken coup, sadly one of the new babies had died and was being eaten by a chicken. We managed to catch the black male who was in with the girls and I left with strict instructions to keep them separate.

There are very few good rabbit rescues in Wales and I tried to get rescue space for these bunnies everywhere. Alice was the only one who could help (in fact she was one of only three who got back to me) and agreed to take the babies and the three males, and another 10 month old male and female who had been rehomed by the lady but were coming back! The lady wanted to keep the two mums although I tried to persuade her to give them up. I said to let me know when the babies were ready and I would collect them and find rescue space for them.

A lovely lady called Ruth helped with the transport and went to collect the buns, but the night before they were due to be collected I had a message to say one of the babies had hurt his leg, possibly broken. Alice said she would still take him so they were all collected the next day and taken to Windwhistle.

The baby with the broken leg was immediately adopted by Ruth who fell in love with him and has since had his front leg removed, it now looks like he was bitten by a rat.

One of the babies from the first litter then developed problems with his leg and also had to have a leg amputated, due to an infection caused by a bite.

A couple of weeks later I had another message off the lady, the babies had been attacked by rats, three had been taken and killed and the others had been bitten, one had a bite on his jaw, she had separated them from their mum and didn't know what to do, so I went and collected them, they were 3 weeks old. They have been to the vets, all except one has been bitten, the one who was bitten on the jaw has an abscess and I am not sure of his future as it may involve the jaw bone.

The owner then got in touch this week to say that between myself and Ruth visiting the boys had got out twice and the rabbit had had babies again, this time under the greenhouse and that there were rats everywhere. She finally agreed to let us take the two mums and the babies so Ruth went over last Friday to take them, sadly the babies were all dead but she got the mums out safetly and they are now at Windwhistle. One may be pregnant.

I have the six babies here, four of them have come on really well and are doing great, two not so great, one with the abscess and one has today got swollen front legs, they are both on metacam and antibiotics and will be going back to the vets as soon as they open. Alice has agreed to take these in too and so will be making the journey in a couple of weeks.

All in all we have got eighteen rabbits out of there alive, and they all will need veterinary treatment, neutering, vaccinations etc. The one who lost a leg is looking for a very special home. If it wasn't for Alice I don't know what I would have done, I didn't want the rabbits going from the frying pan into the fire and would not have been able to find enough suitable homes in my area.

If anyone can offer any of these buns (or any of the 80 or so other rabbits Alice has for homing) a home, please give her a shout. Alice has given me so much support and advice throughout and Windwhistle is a great rescue and we need more like hers, especially in Wales.

I have known Alice for quite a few years now and her strength, courage and determination to help rabbits, guinea pigs and in fact any other living creature is absolutely incredible. Alice is a remarkable human being and I consider myself to be very fortunate to have her as a close friend.
I mustn't forget all the other people who help Alice with the running of the rescue too.

A big................THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!!!!!! xxxxxx

All of my furry family are from WW and always will do until such times it is not possible.

All being well I shall be doing a fundraiser for WW at the beginning of June, here in Worcestershire. I shall post details in the fundraising section in a few weeks time. So it would be much appreciated if as many supporters of the rescue could come along and raise some much needed funds to keep the rescue running. Such cases such as this one cost a rescue an absolute fortune in vets bills.....so come on folks, dig deep inside your pockets either beforehand or at the fundraiser as such wonderful work as this needs a great deal of financial support......and a fantastic team of volunteers.:thumb:

Auntie Di. xxxxxx


Oooh just in case Alice spots this thread.........:wave: xxxx

That's just amazing! I could come and help for your fundraiser, as long as its somewhere easy to find as I am hopeless with getting to places

Jojo123 said:

That's just amazing! I could come and help for your fundraiser, as long as its somewhere easy to find as I am hopeless with getting to places

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That would be great, thank you. The event is at Pershore College on the B4084 just outside Pershore. Very easy to find.:thumb: Usually held either the first or second Saturday in June, and this will be my fifth or sixth year of going and raising funds for WW.
As previously mentioned.....I will post details in fundraising section over the next few weeks.

I'm glad you got all the rabbits out... what a mess I hope the little ones start to feel better soon.

Alice is amazing, she does a wonderful job and all the rabbits at the rescue are well cared for and go to good homes. My rabbit Annabella is from Windwhistle Warren. She also took in a mum and her babies that I rescued from an unsuitable home. Last I heard, she had found them all lovely homes.

Alice has also always been there to give me advice on my rabbits when needed, which has been invaluable. I'd recommend her rescue to anyone in Gloucestershire or the surrounding areas. I just wish I was closer so I could give her more support.

:wave: I have adopted two rabbits from Windwhistle and Alice has been amazing. It is difficult not to be in awe of the wonderful work she does. She knows the personality of each and every animal in her care and is always on hand for support and advice. I would recommend that anyone adopt from her and would also encourage everyone to support fundraising to keep the rescue going.

The six babies are now with Alice, after seeing the vet today, three are very poorly with infected joints in their legs. Please send lots of vibes to these babies and if anyone can spare any money to help Alice with the vets bills I'm sure she would appreciate it xxx

katiesmum said:

The six babies are now with Alice, after seeing the vet today, three are very poorly with infected joints in their legs. Please send lots of vibes to these babies and if anyone can spare any money to help Alice with the vets bills I'm sure she would appreciate it xxx

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Sending vibes for the dear little babies. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

In a previous post on this thread I have mentioned that I am doing a fundraiser for WW at the beginning of June. If anyone has any spare good quality bric a brac they no longer need, then perhaps the items could be used as prizes for the tombola, fun game and items for sale all part of the fundraiser. If you can spare any items, please pm me. Every single penny raised goes to help WW.

What a lovely and sad story at the same time. Just goes to show how great the rescues are and how important the work they do is

Sending lots and lots of vibes for the babies.

A huge thank you to Alice and everyone involved in this rescue.

Hi Katie's Mum and everyone else - I'm the 'Ruth' who helped to catch and transport the rabbits to Windwhistle from here in Wales. I have never been 'over the border' so many times in a few weeks in my life - phew, we've done some miles. :shock:

The little rabbit we took had a back leg amputated not a front. He (we think) had been bit and the bone was damaged beyond repair, being so young and small the wonderful vet Jason at Woods was dubious the little bun would survive an op but s/he did and in fact Jason was amazed the little bun was up and eating so quickly. Four siblings went to Alice and in pairs went out on foster. One later developed problems and had a front paw amputated - this bun is a REW called Alby who has a sister (beautiful Agouti) Sprite. Alby and Sprite would like to stay together and are looking for a special home. I'm not sure about their siblings but know they are on foster and doing well. There are also four 10 month old buns, all beautiful that were taken out on the first trip.

Katie'sMum took the second litter home with her after the previous owner finally agreed to let them go. This was after some had already been killed or gone missing from both litters. Unfortunately tonight the vet has given three of the babies a 'guarded prognosis' - it breaks my heart, beautiful, trusting little babies suffering because of neglect and I will say it - cruelty. They have antibiotics and are in the safe hands of Alice tonight.

The mothers of these babies were taken to Windwhistle earlier this week, two conti cross girls, amazingly beautiful buns who have bred and bred. We picked these up a few days ago and had planned to take the babies too despite the risk of moving a nest, they were in too much risk of being eaten by rats. When we got there hubby had to dig the nest out, it was big, beautiful and whole but all 4 remaining babies were dead. There were rats running around everywhere, no wonder the previous litters had so many injuries and bites, chickens and rats had been eating them!

If anyone is able to offer a special home for some special buns - contact Windwhistle. Our baby is staying with us, currently called Zebedee (though this may change to Zebedeena in a couple of weeks), baby is able to run and binky with a back leg missing. All of these babies and the adults have a will to live and thank goodness Alice is there to look after them until their forever home comes along. :wave:

:wave: Thanks for that very heartfelt update.

I would also just like to make a plea to everyone on the forum to adopt from a rescue wherever possible and to encourage anyone else to adopt too, rather than buying from pet shops or breeders. These babies have had the very worst start in life but sadly their stories are shared by thousands of other small furries up and down the country.

Thanks to you and your husband, Ruth for all of your work in the rescue.