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

J

Jack's-Jane

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

After discussion with one of the Directors of the RWAF and with a RU Mod this thread is being started to keep people up to date regarding all the hard work the RWAF do/have done to improve the welfare of all Rabbits. Some people reading this thread may be new to Rabbits, may not know about the RWAF or may not have access to their Facebook page.

For anyone wanting to familiarise themselves with the RWAF they have a very informative website that contains a vast amount of up to date information about all aspects of Rabbit Care.

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/

I will keep this thread updated and if anyone has any issues to discuss regarding what the RWAF do, how they may be able to help in specific situations or what help you may be able to offer them then feel free to post on here too.

At the moment the dire situation regarding RHD2 is taking up a huge amount of their time, there has been and still is A LOT of hard work going on behind the scenes to do all they can to get the message out there about the RHD2 virus and just what a threat the virus is to Rabbits.

Just because the RWAF are not active on RU does not mean they are not constantly striving to improve the lives of Rabbits, to educate the public and provide advice from Veterinary qualified representatives of the organisation. One of whom, Richard Saunders, was the Vet whose persistent and dedicated hard work enabled a Vaccine for RHD2 to be licenced for use.

If anyone would like to sell items on here to raise much needed Funds for the RWAF then this can be done by first contacting Tamsin (Owner of RU) to request permission. Competitions and Auctions are another Fund raising option.

The RU community working together with an already well established and well respected organisation like the RWAF can only be of benefit to all who care for Rabbits.

Spread the word amongst your Rabbit owning family and friends, highlight the RWAF to them and encourage them to spread the word too !
 
Last edited:
I’m glad you have started this thread, it’s great to be informed about the work that the RWAF do :love:
 
Zoobec said:
I’m glad you have started this thread, it’s great to be informed about the work that the RWAF do :love:
Click to expand...

They are a fantastic organisation. A Mod is going to make this thread a 'Sticky' so hopefully as new members join RU they will see it and get involved :)
 
I joined the RWAF but when I got my welcome pack the first thing I read basically said, supporting the RWAF was essentially just supporting the magazine and if I wanted to make a difference to rabbit welfare support the RWA. Is this correct or have I misunderstood do you know?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
Leannean27 said:
I joined the RWAF but when I got my welcome pack the first thing I read basically said, supporting the RWAF was essentially just supporting the magazine and if I wanted to make a difference to rabbit welfare support the RWA. Is this correct or have I misunderstood do you know?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Ah I'm not sure, ima look though, when I joined I made a donation I think. I get that magazine they send out, which also had a yearly price? think that's what seals it for most people that I'm the mad rabbit person [emoji38]

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Leannean27 said:
I joined the RWAF but when I got my welcome pack the first thing I read basically said, supporting the RWAF was essentially just supporting the magazine and if I wanted to make a difference to rabbit welfare support the RWA. Is this correct or have I misunderstood do you know?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
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
 
RosRWAF said:
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
Click to expand...

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 !
 
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 :D

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

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/one-year-uk-adult-membership/

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

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/gift-membership-uk-only-one-year/
 
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/152/preventative-health-care-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 :D
 
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...-by-richard-saunders-rwaf-veterinary-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 ?
 
Jack's-Jane said:
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...-by-richard-saunders-rwaf-veterinary-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 ?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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

92jYUc6.jpg


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/product-category/educational/

CPD Roadshows are also available

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/cpd-roadshows/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Metacam Dispensing Rule Change in the UK
Replies
12
Views
1K
KarenM
KarenM
J
One rabbit is less interested in bonding than the other?
Replies
11
Views
2K
tonibun
T
C
My rabbit Budja's jaw abscess came back for the third time after 2 surgeries
Replies
3
Views
623
Cassie119300
C
Back
Top