SWOS students serve at Best Friends Animal Society

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SWOS students serve at Best Friends Animal Society

Southwest Open School student, Neco Escoe, pets Layla, one of the 22 Victory dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s group of pit bulls.
Brianna Provstgaard holds one of the many exotic birds ready for adoption.
Southwest Open School students listen attentively while a Best Friends volunteer explains how a pig finds its way to a home at the sanctuary.

SWOS students serve at Best Friends Animal Society

Southwest Open School student, Neco Escoe, pets Layla, one of the 22 Victory dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s group of pit bulls.
Brianna Provstgaard holds one of the many exotic birds ready for adoption.
Southwest Open School students listen attentively while a Best Friends volunteer explains how a pig finds its way to a home at the sanctuary.
Rabbit info

The SWOS students feel it is extremely important that the Cortez community is made aware of some specific information they gathered while volunteering with Jason Dickman, who supervises the rabbits and their care at Rescue Village. One story included a case in Reno, Nev. where a woman was hoarding rabbits in her yard. She had over 800 unsocialized, unaltered bunnies living in her back yard in burrows and under trailers. Many were sick, injured or pregnant. When they arrived, representatives from Best Friends began separating by sex, spaying and neutering (they were being born at a rate of approximately 40 per day), providing medical care and moving them to a nearby facility with adequate housing. By the time all of the rabbits were identified by sex and separated, there were probably around 1,200 rabbits, because they were breeding all the time while the fencing and new housing was being built. Best Friends currently has 135 of these rabbits at the Rescue Village area. The SWOS students were able to work with and care for these rabbits during their service at Best Friends. Many of the other bunnies were adopted out or went to other rescue groups. Some did not make it due to sickness and injuries from their living situation.



Think of getting a rabbit as a pet?

Here are some facts from Best Friends:

Rabbits really aren’t the best choice when looking for a pet for your young child. They don’t necessarily like to be handled a lot and children tend to want to hold, pet and handle them constantly. Rabbits also aren’t big on noise and high-pitched voices. They can also bite and scratch when held. Rabbit handling techniques are required to know how to carry them around. Their spines are delicate and can be easily broken if not handled correctly. Also, rabbits can literally be “scared to death.”

At age three to four months, rabbits can start having babies. They can have litters of anywhere from 4-10 babies per litter. Their gestation period is 32 days and they can become pregnant again within 24 hours of delivering a litter. Rabbits can be spayed or neutered.

Rabbits like space to get exercise and experience new smells and explore. This can be done in the house while supervised or even outside in a fenced yard. Make sure they are supervised though; they can (and will) dig right under a fence in no time while you are away. Exercise pens are good to house rabbits in because they are easily moveable and can be purchased in varying heights to accommodate rabbits that have jumping abilities. Pre-made rabbit cages are best if they do not have the wire mesh bottoms. Rabbits tend to get their claws caught in these and the mesh is not comfortable or safe for the bunnies. The mesh can be covered with rigs, natural grass mats or other materials to make it more comfortable.

In 2006 the ASPCA estimated the annual cost for owning a pet rabbit at $911. This includes food, spaying or neutering, toys, carrier, cage, etc.

Rabbit care facts courtesy of Heather Moore and Jason Dickman of Best Friends Animal Society.