Rabbit Confiscation

On Thursday, June 23, a large number of rabbits were seized from a home in Mahtomedi, a northeast suburb of the metro area. The story was featured on KSTP and Fox news, and also appears on WCCO's website and the Pioneer Press website.

These situations tend to be very fluid and change quickly, but here's what we know so far:

• Some rabbits have already been placed, leaving a total of 54 rabbits needing assistance.
• All the rabbits appeared healthy initially, but many are now displaying upper respiratory illnesses.
• All the rabbits are smallish (2 - 5 lbs).
• Several rabbits are long-haired, either Jersey Woolies or Lionheads. (and all are amazingly cute! Check out the pictures.).
• All rabbits will be spayed/neutered and microchipped prior to being available for adoption.
• The first of the rabbits are already available for adoption on Petfinder.com. More will become available every day as we get to know them better.
• This group contains a number of single rabbits, several pairs, and two trios.

Check back often as we will be posting updates to our confiscation blog as frequently as they become available.

This juvenile has unexplained hair loss. This is just one example as there were several others with very similar conditions.

What MCRS is doing to help:

• Area shelters have been contacted to see if they can take any of the rabbits into their organizations. Wisconsin HRS has already agreed to take five rabbits to Madison, with the assistance of volunteer drivers.
• 100 lbs of grass hay and 33 lbs of rabbit pellets were donated by MCRS to the shelter currently holding the rabbits.
• We plan to add additional adoption events to our July calendar to help promote adoption of these rabbits. We will definitely have an adoption event on Sunday, June 17, at Roseville PETCO and will be participating in Animal Ark's Adopt-A-Thon the weekend of June 23 and 24. More events may be added in the near future. Check back soon to see if there will be one near you!
• MCRS is actively recruiting foster homes and preparing to supply all those homes with the necessary supplies - cages, litterboxes, water bottles, hay, pellets and litter. We have already set up a dozen new foster homes, but more are needed.

How you can help these bunnies:

This poor little girl was so badly matted that the only option was to anesthetize her and shave her. Much less stressful for her than having the mats worked out individually.

MCRS needs three very important elements in order to meet the needs of these rabbits: volunteers, donations, and foster homes.

Volunteer

There will be a wide variety of volunteer needs over the next several weeks. The best option for being informed of these as they arise, is to subscribe to our volunteer email list. A very important need is simply getting the rabbits from place to place. While it is a relatively simple task, it can be time-consuming and will continue to be important as we need to get rabbits to and from adoption events. In addition, many volunteers will be needed to assist at these events

Donate

This long-haired Jersey Wooly still looks fuzzy after having so many mats removed that it left a pile the same size as the bunny! One mat was so tightly wound up that it had pinched her skin together along a two-inch strip. Once the mat was removed, the skin immediately relaxed.

Caring for such a large number of rabbits consumes a significant quantity of supplies like hay, pellets and litter. In addition, while these rabbits initially appeared healthy, many have developed upper respiratory illnesses that require treatment. There will likely be additional medical expenses in the future as well. Finally, equipping new foster homes costs money and it is much easier to get volunteers that will foster when we supply all the equipment. MCRS had not fully recovered financially from the 2004 confiscation, so we can really use financial donations of any amount. You can help right away by following the PayPal link below, or mail the Membership and Donation Form from our membership page to the address listed in contact us.

Some examples of how your donation helps:

• $7 treats one rabbit's upper respiratory illness with three weeks of antibiotics.
• $20 provides food, hay and litter to one rabbit for an entire month.
• $50 provides a foster home with all the equipment to care for one rabbit - cage, litterbox, water bottle and food dish.
• $75 provides food, hay and litter for the duration of the average rabbit’s stay in foster care.

Foster

Each of the bunnies needs a place to live temporarily until an adoptive home can be found for them. In addition, MCRS has a constant need for foster homes year-round for the many other homeless rabbits in need. Fostering a rabbit can be a very rewarding experience and literally saves a life! All you need is a space in your home and the time to care for the rabbit. MCRS will supply all the equipment you will need - cage, litterbox, litter, food and hay. MCRS also covers any medical expenses for foster rabbits. Your only out-of-pocket expense is for the fresh greens and veggies you feed your foster rabbit - and even that is a tax-deductible donation! Please contact us immediately if you are interested in more information on fostering a rabbit.