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Gimme Shelter
Jun. 7th, 2009 01:54 pmPepper and I worked at the Red Door Shelter's Gimme Shelter walk today. I set up tables and tents and then basically taught 'Bunnies 101' to everyone who stopped by. Pepper (the plague bunny) had a pen to herself while Toni's buns Drake and his girl April had a pen next door.
I had the pens a few inches apart on a large patch of clover, and wow was Drake (a 10 lb REW NZ) doing an impressive lawnmower impression. He's a big lazybun and loved being held and admired. April is a feisty little spotted rex dwarf who made a break for it once when they got Drake out - I grabbed for her and actually fell out of my chair, and by the time I untangled myself she was 1/3 of the way across the park. Recovering from my flailing I actually had the presence of mind to grab the folding display and used it as a large shield to block her enough that her human could grab her.
I was curious to see how Pepper would react, as it's been nearly 3 years since she has even SEEN another rabbit. At first she stayed in her carrier - she does NOT like taking the bus - but she was a little curious and happily not aggressive. She did, however, settle down with her butt to them and other than the occasional peek she utterly ignored their existance. She was just fine with the barking dogs, and even sniffed at the ferret in the carrier (even the unflappable Drake was thumping at that), and I know there were quite a few pics taken of her sniffing nose-to-nose with a passing pooch through the bars of the pen. She did a bit of wandering, peering and nibbling, but after about the first hour was content to sit with her back to the other buns and be admired and petted.
I talked about her story and Drake's (He was horribly malnourished and had severe urine scald when he came in), and about rabbit care, and how she uses a litterbox and sleeps under my bed, how she hates other bunnies and how she should be the poster child for having pet insurance, and about how the shelter is in the midst of the post-easter-bunny-dumping-season. Once the walkers got their turn at the donated goodies I had a muffin and brought back an apple to share with the buns.
The weather was mostly grey and we had a couple of light showers, but i'm told the turnout was about the same as last year's, and thanks to a new fundraising website tool the intake was even a bit higher than last year. Even being outside i'm a little itchy and sneezy still, so I think I'll pop anotehr benadryl and go join Pepper for a nap
UPDATE - just got this message from Toni:
"THANK YOU!! to all of you guys for an excellent job today. Despite a little bit of rain, it was a HUGE success. We raised over $25,000 for the animals, which is more than any year before. I was proud of all of you for getting the event set up and then torn down so efficiently. It was pretty chaotic at times, but it all came together thanks to all your efforts. You're AWESOME!"
I had the pens a few inches apart on a large patch of clover, and wow was Drake (a 10 lb REW NZ) doing an impressive lawnmower impression. He's a big lazybun and loved being held and admired. April is a feisty little spotted rex dwarf who made a break for it once when they got Drake out - I grabbed for her and actually fell out of my chair, and by the time I untangled myself she was 1/3 of the way across the park. Recovering from my flailing I actually had the presence of mind to grab the folding display and used it as a large shield to block her enough that her human could grab her.
I was curious to see how Pepper would react, as it's been nearly 3 years since she has even SEEN another rabbit. At first she stayed in her carrier - she does NOT like taking the bus - but she was a little curious and happily not aggressive. She did, however, settle down with her butt to them and other than the occasional peek she utterly ignored their existance. She was just fine with the barking dogs, and even sniffed at the ferret in the carrier (even the unflappable Drake was thumping at that), and I know there were quite a few pics taken of her sniffing nose-to-nose with a passing pooch through the bars of the pen. She did a bit of wandering, peering and nibbling, but after about the first hour was content to sit with her back to the other buns and be admired and petted.
I talked about her story and Drake's (He was horribly malnourished and had severe urine scald when he came in), and about rabbit care, and how she uses a litterbox and sleeps under my bed, how she hates other bunnies and how she should be the poster child for having pet insurance, and about how the shelter is in the midst of the post-easter-bunny-dumping-season. Once the walkers got their turn at the donated goodies I had a muffin and brought back an apple to share with the buns.
The weather was mostly grey and we had a couple of light showers, but i'm told the turnout was about the same as last year's, and thanks to a new fundraising website tool the intake was even a bit higher than last year. Even being outside i'm a little itchy and sneezy still, so I think I'll pop anotehr benadryl and go join Pepper for a nap
UPDATE - just got this message from Toni:
"THANK YOU!! to all of you guys for an excellent job today. Despite a little bit of rain, it was a HUGE success. We raised over $25,000 for the animals, which is more than any year before. I was proud of all of you for getting the event set up and then torn down so efficiently. It was pretty chaotic at times, but it all came together thanks to all your efforts. You're AWESOME!"