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Rescues- How many buns do you house currently?

LuceMarbles said:
Alice ( Windwhistle Warren ) depends very much on volunteers. I think you need to consider your veterinary costs and what these may be before employing staff. There are other ways to summon help but consider how you cope if you are ill with flu.

I have no experience myself but have had contact with Kay BunnyHop Hotel and Alice. Both have built up over time.

Whereabouts are you? I see you're renting too......just a thought but at some point you will be moving to a larger premise.

I think its wonderful that you are considering going down this route and wish you every success. There's a wealth of expertise here you can tap into.

Good luck Ambience.
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I'm in west yorkshire at present. Even though I've started rescuing I'm reluctant to give out any details except to the vets who have said they will contact me if any buns come into them that need rehoming or a place of sanctuary. I am doing both at the moment.

I rent a farm at the moment, we plan to stay here for atleast the next twelve months if not longer. Eventually though we would like to buy outright a property that can incorporate kennels( for rescue), cattery( rescue), livery etc and with enough land for avairys and sheds for the buns. We would be looking at a 1.5 mil property, so that is not possible right now. This is the ultimate goal.

For now, I've got the option to put up a massive shed and avairys here rather than have to rent somewhere else also commercially just for rescue purposes. I was looking at stable blocks, but fortunately my landlord here has been very accommodating with me.

I'll be putting up a massive structure in April that will house lots of bunnies, for now i only have limited amounts of spaces available. Just contemplating how many hutches i should put in it etc :)

I'd definately want to be in a position that i couldn't manage all the buns on my own. Although i do have my other half and can employ staff or volunteers, like you say- it can be unreliable.
 
Ambience said:
That's good- are you a sanctuary did you mention before?
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No I am not a sanctuary. I take in and rehome rabbits on a small scale. The reason I only have this many is that we have 22 of our own rabbits to consider, and I don't have any income specifically for the rescue apart from donations and the occasional boarder that helps support what we do. If I had more rescue bunnies I couldn't take care of boarding rabbits and without the boarding rabbits, I could not afford to take in rescues, despite the kindness and generoisity of my good friends and supporters.

I would find it impossible to have any more becuase of the time it takes to talk to people by phone and e-mail wanting to give up their animals, talking and seeing those who want to adopt, doing vet visits for vaccinations/neutering and ongoing healthcare, plus homechecks for new homes. I have a salaried job for only two days a week and I still find it hard at times (like in bad weather) with having the 40 odd we have at any one time on site. Without the boarders we are currently at 32 rabbits with more waiting to come in and it's just me that looks after them.

I choose not to have any volunteers or helpers as that would restrict my ability to run our home as we want to - the bunnies are all in our back garden. I often get offers of help from folks suggesting their kids come up to help, which would be great educationally, but to be honest I don't have the time to show them how to do things, I would worry about infection control, I can't chaperone them all the time and quite often in my experience, volunteers don't always turn up when you need them most. (I used to help run the volunteers at a local rescue in Bracknell).

So I can't grow any bigger and have no wish to. I can only do my little bit and hope that the information and education I share makes a tiny difference to somebun.

I don't know how some people cope with more.
 
The Duchess said:
No I am not a sanctuary. I take in and rehome rabbits on a small scale. The reason I only have this many is that we have 22 of our own rabbits to consider, and I don't have any income specifically for the rescue apart from donations and the occasional boarder that helps support what we do. If I had more rescue bunnies I couldn't take care of boarding rabbits and without the boarding rabbits, I could not afford to take in rescues, despite the kindness and generoisity of my good friends and supporters.

I would find it impossible to have any more becuase of the time it takes to talk to people by phone and e-mail wanting to give up their animals, talking and seeing those who want to adopt, doing vet visits for vaccinations/neutering and ongoing healthcare, plus homechecks for new homes. I have a salaried job for only two days a week and I still find it hard at times (like in bad weather) with having the 40 odd we have at any one time on site. Without the boarders we are currently at 32 rabbits with more waiting to come in and it's just me that looks after them.

I choose not to have any volunteers or helpers as that would restrict my ability to run our home as we want to - the bunnies are all in our back garden. I often get offers of help from folks suggesting their kids come up to help, which would be great educationally, but to be honest I don't have the time to show them how to do things, I would worry about infection control, I can't chaperone them all the time and quite often in my experience, volunteers don't always turn up when you need them most. (I used to help run the volunteers at a local rescue in Bracknell).

So I can't grow any bigger and have no wish to. I can only do my little bit and hope that the information and education I share makes a tiny difference to somebun.

I don't know how some people cope with more.
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I think your doing a fantastic job caring for 40 buns on your own and the other animals you have. I know you have quite a few.
 
If you didn't know already there's a rescue in Leeds, West Yorkshire called Camp Nibble :) Please let me know if you ever come across a thrianta rescue case, as far as I'm aware there are only two breeders in west yorkshire (Me and one other), I practically home check new owners of my rabbits though
 
Hi :wave:

We are based in Leeds, there is certainly the need for another bunny rescue in West Yorkshire.

We have some fosterers but most of our rescue animals are just looked after by my husband and I. Our limit is around 50 rescue animals at one time. Any more than this and we wouldn't feel able to give them the level of care that we want to. However, we do have many of our own animals to care for which limits the time we can spend on the rescue guys including a 12 stone St Bernard and our new born baby!! :lol:

Animal rescue is extremely rewarding but can be very emotionally draining at times. It is easy to become very cynical. I don't think my husband and I could cope if we didn't have each other to talk things through with. Therefore, make sure if you are starting a rescue alone that you have like minded friends to off load onto.

Best of luck in your new venture.
 
I don't run a rescue but it seems common sense to me to just see how you cope as they come in. People cope differently and while one person may be able to handle 50+ another person may only be able to cope with 20, One rescue may only take a few hundred pounds a year in donations (obviously having an effect on how many you can afford to take in), another could be taking in thousands. One rescue might rehome quickly, which would be a lot of work in quarantining new bunnies, home checking, paperwork etc, and one might rehome slowly which is obviously going to be less work.

All of these things are going to have an effect on what you can handle and I don't think you should base too much on others experiences, though of course it's good to ask :)
 
Camp Nibble said:
Hi :wave:

We are based in Leeds, there is certainly the need for another bunny rescue in West Yorkshire.

We have some fosterers but most of our rescue animals are just looked after by my husband and I. Our limit is around 50 rescue animals at one time. Any more than this and we wouldn't feel able to give them the level of care that we want to. However, we do have many of our own animals to care for which limits the time we can spend on the rescue guys including a 12 stone St Bernard and our new born baby!! :lol:

Animal rescue is extremely rewarding but can be very emotionally draining at times. It is easy to become very cynical. I don't think my husband and I could cope if we didn't have each other to talk things through with. Therefore, make sure if you are starting a rescue alone that you have like minded friends to off load onto.

Best of luck in your new venture.
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Thanks for sharing. My other half is going to be coming out to clean the bunnies with me and he has agreed to get more hands on , rather than just financially support. He has said lets do everything together, which is reassuring from that perspective.

I think adonia passing away has made him realize how much more he could give to all the buns. It's only recently he has realized how much they communicate and how human bunnies are. It's nice to see him talking to all the buns and taking time for them.

Do you do rescue full time both of you or do you have other jobs also? My other half is a computer programmer and runs his own business, luckily though he hardly needs to be at the pc so has alot of time. I also am at home 24/7 and although i have another part time business- it's flexible as to what i do on it.

Congradulations on your new baby.
 
Oh that's great news that your other half is able to help you. Yes, I delegate a lot of the dirty work to my hubbie ;)

Yes, we are very lucky in that currently we are able to volunteer all of our time after family commitments to the rescue. With our current capacity I think that we would get quite overwhelmed trying to juggle constant vet visits and re-homing appointments etc around full time jobs. We would definiately need more people on board.

Yes, I'd advise starting small and gradually increasing numbers as long as you are feeling very able to cope. You should reach a capacity that's unique to your situation where you feel like any more could tip the balance (that's where we're at right now!)

Sadly, we've realised that there are endless numbers of animals needing help and we are unable to help them all. This is very upsetting so we've had to accept that we only help a limited number at a time and have a duty to the animals that we take in to be able to look after them to the highest standards. This means resisting the constant temptation to bite off more than we can chew :lol:
 
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