I volunteer at a rescue and most of mine are from there.
My three (now two) Flower Girls were long term residents at the rescue. They spent the first two years of their lives in rescue, despite being absolutely beautiful they were overlooked probably because they were a trio. They were VERY destructive, but it was just boredom, all they needed was a proper home with space and stimulation. They left their destructive behaviour behind and became very well mannered girls.
Nutmeg, Saffron & Pepper were orphaned at 4 weeks old. I took them home as they needed a bit of extra care. They were supposed to be short term foster bunnies, we were just keeping them until they were bigger and stronger. They stayed.
I took Bentley home as a very poorly 9 week old baby. He had to have his eye removed, which went well, but a few days later he became seriously ill with stasis/bloat. I took him home as a short term foster just until he was better, but he became so seriously poorly that he ended up at my vets in intensive care. We went through so much with Bentley that we just couldn't part with him, so he stayed.
Minnie is a Windwhistle Warren bunny. She came from a large scale rescue of rabbits, another of those out of control situations. She had been at Windwhistle for about a year, overlooked probably because she was agouti. I was looking for a girl for Bentley, I didn't care what colour etc, so I contacted Alice and we arranged to take Bentley down to meet Minnie (known as Princess Sparkles at the time). It really was love at first sight so Minnie came home with us.
Sugar is a Fatfluff, another bunny from a large scale rescue where rabbits had to be distributed to other rescues around the country. Fatfluffs took Sugar and her 7 babies and I adopted Sugar from them once she had been spayed.
Roo is another bunny from the rescue where I volunteer. I chose him because he is a rew, so an unpopular choice for many people and I knew he would be destined for a long stint in the rescue. His eyesight is poor and he has a tendancy to bite when he's unsure what is in front of him, he bites first and asks questions after, another reason why he needed an understanding home.
My 6 chinchillas are all rescues.
2 of our cats came from Cats Protection. Our kitten Rascal, turned up on our doorstep on a freezing cold night just before Christmas. If we hadn't have kept him, then he would have gone to a local rescue, so I count him as a rescue too...he decided to adopt us.
I would always rescue. :thumb: