Eastern Shore Rabbit Rescue Awarded Emergency Rescue Grant
House Rabbit Society provides $1,000 to ESRREC to prepare “Denton Bunnies” for adoption
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2018
Contact: Cora Dickson, info@esrrec.org
Eastern Shore Rabbit Rescue and Education Center, Inc. (ESRREC) on the Chesapeake Bay of Maryland, today announced it has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the House Rabbit Society, a national organization. The grant will specifically assist with the spay/neuter costs of 50 abandoned pet rabbits that were recently captured in Caroline County.
“We are so grateful to the House Rabbit Society for their contribution towards this large-scale effort,” said Cora Dickson, President of ESRREC.
Earlier this month ESRREC received a call for help from Caroline County Animal Control (affiliated with Caroline County Humane Society). A Denton resident had noticed a large number of what appeared to be domesticated rabbits wandering around the backyard for the past several years. It had finally reached the point where it seemed like something needed to be done but they didn’t want any harm to come to the rabbits. Unfortunately, with their lagomorph instincts, most of them had burrowed under a large wooden gazebo.
On May 9, the volunteers from ESRREC joined Caroline County Animal Control at the Denton property. In total that day, 12 rabbits were captured. A local company, Knotts Towing, brought a truck to lift the gazebo, allowing the rescuers to get underneath and catch rabbits. The following week, an additional 7 rabbits were captured including some babies that were less than a month old. A few stragglers were captured in subsequent days with live traps. The final number of survivors was 20. However, 5 of these were pregnant and the total quickly increased to 50. [Click here to watch the WBOC news clip (May 21, 2018).]
The Denton Bunnies will be available for foster and/or adoption from Caroline County Humane Society when they are medically cleared including spay/neuter. Additional donations are being solicited by ESRREC because the total cost to spay/neuter all 50 rabbits is estimated to be at least $5,000. ESRREC volunteers who live in Ridgely are assisting Caroline Humane on a daily basis with the Denton Bunnies, as well as fostering the nursing mothers and newborns.
ESRREC and Caroline Humane are also partnering to hold an educational seminar, “Bunny Care Basics,” on Saturday, June 2 at the Ridgely Firehouse to help potential adopters understand rabbit needs and behavior. As part of the seminar, attendees can meet several of the Denton Bunnies, who — despite their rough life – are quickly getting accustomed to being handled by humans. Now safely indoors, they will no longer fear for their lives in the face of extreme weather, predators, and disease.
ESRREC, a nonprofit organization that provides temporary shelter and helps find forever homes for pet rabbits, is the only rabbit rescue serving the Eastern Shore. Since it opened its Main Street shelter in April 2015, ESRREC has taken in 122 rabbits, facilitated adoptions for 80 rabbits, and spayed/neutered 94 rabbits.
For more information about ESRREC or the House Rabbit Society, visit www.esrrec.org or www.rabbit.org.
About ESRREC
The Eastern Shore Rabbit Rescue and Education Center (ESRREC), is based in Rock Hall, Maryland. ESRREC ensures the health, safety and emotional well-being of abandoned pet rabbits on Maryland’s Eastern Shore through shelter and care, with guidance to the families who adopt them as companion animals. ESRREC is a nonprofit corporation and has 501(c)(3) status. ESRREC relies on volunteers and donations to support its mission. Its geographic coverage focuses primarily on five Maryland counties to the east of the Chesapeake Bay: Kent, Queen Anne’s, Cecil, Talbot, and Caroline. ESRREC also conducts outreach activities in neighboring Delaware.
About the House Rabbit Society
The House Rabbit Society (HRS) is a non-profit activist organization based in Richmond, California that rescues and adopts rabbits and educates the community with its curriculum on rabbit care. The HRS promotes responsible rabbit ownership, including the spaying and neutering of all pet rabbits, proper veterinary care, diet, and exercise. Since its founding in 1988, the HRS has grown from a handful of fosterers in the San Francisco Bay Area to having 28 chapters in 22 states, with educators and fosterers in an additional 15 states. The HRS also has chapters in Australia, Canada and Italy, as well as educators and fosterers in 7 countries outside the United States (New Zealand, Switzerland, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, and Bangladesh).
ESRREC Press Release Archives: Click here