The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund - U/D 30th July Covid 19 & Vaccinations

[Rhianna]

I've never seen that video before. It made me cry - I think it is really powerful.

[Jack's-Jane]

Hi Leanne

Your membership of the RWAF doesn't give funds direct to our charity arm, the Rabbit Welfare Fund. We run things very economically so have managed to keep membership subs down to £20 for several years now despite inflation, but that leaves nothing over, and so supporting the charity arm, the RWF would be separate and your own choice. We do of course hope people would choose to do that as it's the RWF that runs our campaigns https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/campaigns/ and that works with organisations such as PAAG to improve what the lives of pet rabbits. The 'club' you subscribe to brings you our magazine, Rabbiting On and provides you with discounts at our annual conference, gives your vet the option, if needed to ask our Specialist Veterinary Adviser, Richard Saunders for advice and so on. But the more members we have the better our organisation can run and the more owners learn about good standards of rabbit care. It also allows us to be recognised as a significant, sizeable group of people (that means all subscribers, not just the 4 of us who are RWAF Directors) who want improvements, who want rabbits to have far better lives, who want the pet trade to provide top quality items for our pets and ditch the rubbish that has been on offer for so long, to have well trained, committed vets and vet nurses with up to date knowledge and skills, to see good advice, for example, on TV shows (too many of those need to pull their socks up!), to see publishers not circulating poor, out of date advice on rabbit care - these and more, a whole raft of standards that we want to keep raising. The more of us there are, the louder our voice - together we can make a difference.

As most people will already know we are big supporters and promoters of rescues and always encourage people to Adopt Don't Shop, with our last survey of rescues in 2012 finding that 67,000 rabbits a year being surrendered to rescues for various reasons We raise money every year for our Sponsor a Rescue scheme which has been going since 2006. To our knowledge, we are the only charity that raises funds for other charities!

Please feel free to ask any other questions but Jane if you wouldn't mind giving me a nudge if people do, I really don't get the time to come here, so if anybody wants to contact us direct, please email either hq@rabbitwelfare.co.uk or info@rabbitwelfare.co.uk We obviously can't discuss anybody's subscription on a forum, that would need to be an email conversation or a phone call (08443246090 between 11 and 3 on weekdays) and we are very conscious of privacy, even prior to the GDPR regulations being enforced, so we couldn't discuss a person's account with anybody else, no matter how they contacted us.

I hope this has been useful and want to close by thanking Jane and Tamsin for this thread, it's really very useful to have it here

Hi Ros

Thanks so much for taking the time to post. I know that you are all frazzled with all the work you are doing . The dedication of all who are involved within the RWAF is very much appreciated. The lives of thousands of Rabbits have been significantly improved as a direct result of the organisation.

I reiterate a previous remark I made the Richard Saunders deserves a Knighthood for all he has done regarding RHD2/Vaccines !

[Jack's-Jane]

I've never seen that video before. It made me cry - I think it is really powerful.

It is and no matter how many times I view it it always brings a tear to my eyes x

[Jack's-Jane]

On RU members sometimes highlight concerns for the welfare of a Rabbit(s) they have seen advertised online. Another part of the work that has been done by the RWAF to address the severe problem of online sales of Pet Rabbits is the 'Capone Campaign'. You can read about this campaign here :

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/campaigns/capone-campaign/

2018 is the third year of the Capone Campaign. The Campaign has many aims going forward, with a specific Investigator ( previously a Police Officer) using specially designed software to identify people who appear to be operating at home as 'pet shops' and capture their online activity. The Investigator is being funded by 'Pets Corner' for another 12 months.
Any dubious cases will be referred to local Authorities, with support from DEFRA. The sellers will also be reported to HMRC. The selling sites will be notified that the individual is a business and not a private seller and their accounts should be listed as such. A log of the reactions of every local authority will be kept and used to report to the Minister for Animal Welfare at the end of the trial period to highlight where the legislation is not working and needs to be improved. There is also an intention to lobby for improved legislation where the need is identified.

The outcomes hoped for from all of this dedicated hard work are to identify unlicensed sellers. These are most likely to be 'Backyard Breeders' where welfare standards are very poor.

To make local authorities aware of the problems that unlicensed sellers cause.

To make it more difficult for these sellers to operate so that doing so is less rewarding

To report any poor welfare standards identified to the RSPCA and to have action taken.

A log of actions taken by local authorities. Equally a log of any incidents where-by a local authority does not respond to concerns raised.

To provide a sound basis for lobbying for better welfare and/or resources in Local Authorities.

There is a further update of the Investigator's work in the Autumn 2018 edition of Rabbiting on. This magazine is extremely informative and free to members of the RWAF. It really is a good read and there are excellent articles written by Veterinary Surgeons as well as lots of other information and of course lots of gorgeous Bunny photos

I would certainly recommend joining the RWAF, together we can all do our bit to help Rabbits.

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pro...lt-membership/

Maybe you are looking for a gift for a Bunny loving relative or friend

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pro...only-one-year/

[Jack's-Jane]

Hi Folks

The RWAF would appreciate being notified of any online sources that contain Rabbit Health and Welfare information that appears to be inaccurate/out of date and where the RWAF are mentioned in any text and/or their Logo appears.

An example here :

http://www.thepetsite.co.uk/focus/5m...rabbit-welfare

The information re RHD and vaccinations is out of date. The RWAF Logo appears on the site and they are referred to in some of the text. Obviously this could give the impression that the information provided on the site is approved by the RWAF, which it obviously is not.

If you come across any similar issues, relating to anything Rabbit related not just Vaccinations, then please notify the RWAF via email

info@rabbitwelfare.co.uk


Thanks

[Jack's-Jane]

The subject of the risks to Rabbits as a result of Passive Smoking has been discussed on RU in the past. Just recently I heard of a situation whereby a lady who owns 3 House Rabbits and she is a heavy smoker. When someone mentioned that smoking in the house where she keeps her Rabbits could seriously damage their health she apparently said that it was 'rubbish' and 'scare mongering'.

The RWAF have an article on their website about the danger Passive Smoking causes to Rabbits :

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/passive-...inary-adviser/

Why this is not obvious to some people I do not know.

I wonder if Rescues have any policies re Homing a Rabbit, or any other Pet, to a household where people smoke ?

[tonibun]

The subject of the risks to Rabbits as a result of Passive Smoking has been discussed on RU in the past. Just recently I heard of a situation whereby a lady who owns 3 House Rabbits and she is a heavy smoker. When someone mentioned that smoking in the house where she keeps her Rabbits could seriously damage their health she apparently said that it was 'rubbish' and 'scare mongering'.

The RWAF have an article on their website about the danger Passive Smoking causes to Rabbits :

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/passive-...inary-adviser/

Why this is not obvious to some people I do not know.

I wonder if Rescues have any policies re Homing a Rabbit, or any other Pet, to a household where people smoke ?

This is the first time I have read anything re rabbits and smoking. I am very anti-smoke and worry about people with dogs as well who smoke. I must tryand find that article.

[tonibun]

Read it!

[Jack's-Jane]

Read it!

Passive smoking puts all Pets kept in the same environment as a smoker at risk. Personally I cant understand why anyone would risk doing that to a Pet (or to a human).

[Jack's-Jane]

As well as what we do see and hear of the dedicated work carried out by the RWAF there is also much going on behind the scenes, all to try to improve the health and welfare of Rabbits.

It is often stated that it can be hard to find a 'Rabbit Savvy' Vet. Just recently the RWAF did some filming at a Vets4Pets practice in Emersons Green, Bristol. This will be used for some CPD (Continuing professional development) and online content for Vets.

Image courtesy of the RWAF



Then there is also the annual RWAF conference. They run a clinical stream for Vets and other Veterinary Professionals and a non clinical stream from Rabbit owners and Rescue Workers.

Conference Notes from 2017 and 2018 are available to buy from the RWAF Shop

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pro...y/educational/

CPD Roadshows are also available

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/cpd-roadshows/