KINSHIP
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak,
Till the deaf world's ear be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak.

From street, from cage and from kennel,
From stable and zoo, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.

Oh, shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.

The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned man the king;
The God of the whole gave a spark of soul
To furred and to feathered thing.

And I am my brother's keeper,
And I will fight his fight,
And speak the word for beast and bird,
Till the world shall set things right.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1850-1919

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CONDUCTOR RABBIT

In mid-June of 2003, a forwarded post to an Internet group was sent to me by one of The Rabbit Habit members. I had seen similar posts before, asking for help from a rabbit rescue that I considered to be mismanaged and out of control. Previously, I was reluctant to get involved, as I was of the opinion that the individual who ran the rescue would only continue to take in too many rabbits, without sufficient funding to care for them. Those who witnessed conditions at this rescue reported overcrowding, tiny and filthy cages, lack of essential foods and clean water, and many bunnies with health issues. Helping this individual out, in my opinion, would have only burdened us with unhealthy bunnies, while she was free to take in more and more rabbits to replace those.

This time the plea was different. The individual was reported to have abandoned the rescue, with nearly 200 rabbits, leaving them in the care of family members. Many rabbits were suffering, and huge debts had mounted, with little in the way of funding coming in. The family, left to care for the bunnies, was trying desperately to place them in permanent homes, foster homes, and other rabbit rescues where they could receive the help that they needed. Their aim was for the rescue to close its doors, as soon as placements were found for each of the rabbits.

I asked The Rabbit Habit membership to vote on the possibility of taking a large number of these rabbits into our foster care, and all were unanimous in their approval. Taking a large amount of bunnies would mean going out on a bit of a limb, financially, as well as investing more time with the custodial upkeep. It would also require our membership to open their homes to foster bunnies with special needs, until the health of the rabbits improved and there was room to take them into our shelter.

With those arrangements in place, I contacted the woman who had originally posted the plea to help the rescue bunnies. She directed me to Stephanie, the manager of a small animal rescue, who was spearheading the mission to find placements for the jeopardized bunnies. It was decided that we would take three bunnies in the first grouping, but as both of us had full-time jobs and were busy running rescue organizations, a transporter would be needed for the two-hour trip.

When a plea went out for help with transporting the needy bunnies, Jennifer, one of The Rabbit Habit's members, who lived in close proximity to the small animal rescue, stepped forward. Jennifer made the long trip down to our shelter with three bunnies coming into our care, and five bunnies that would go on to another small animal rescue, further south. Jennifer handled a larger transport several weeks later, bringing nine more bunnies to the safety of our rescue.

Nothing could have prepared us for the upsetting arrival of those mismanaged-rescue rabbits. Conditions there were obviously horrific. All of the bunnies arrived with health issues, many with multiple maladies. Every one of the rabbits had suffered from starvation and malnutrition. Many were skin and bones, had significant fur loss, and were suffering from depression that could be felt by each one of our volunteers that night. Some were speechless, others were silently weeping, and all knew the significance of our mission to help these bunnies on their way to good health, happiness, and loving homes.

One year later, and much of our funding used to help those needy bunnies recover from their illnesses; all but one of the rabbits has found a loving home. Had we not found the help of our transporter, Jennifer, they would never have escaped from their personal bunny hell. Jennifer gave of herself, and her time, to help get seventeen bunnies to safety. She can take responsibility for saving many little lives, and revel in the glory of the happiness that they now know.

Kerry Stewart
President
The Rabbit Habit

KATE: a BGRR Traveler

CHEWBACCA

JACKSON

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