Update From Nibbles

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Nibbles Rescue
Posts: 145
Joined: 28 Jun 2015 11:52
Location: Pembrokeshire (in between Rhos Hill & Eglwyswrw)
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Update From Nibbles

Post by Nibbles Rescue »

Hi Guys,

I apologies for the delay in not only getting our winter newsletter up but also for not having told you about our daunting but very exciting project for 2017. I spent an hour yesterday writing an update for you all and then when I clicked post the pc crashed and I lost all of it. I am pleased to say that I was not able to rewrite it all yesterday as we had a bunny hopping off to her new homes with a lovely family and a husbun waiting to meet her. So here I am today with mark 2.

The previous delay was caused by that time all us pet owners dread. Sadly towards the beginning of the month my 14 year old Westie started to be sick. He was fine in himself but randomly sick, after a couple of days we took him off to the vet who did a general MOT and took a blood sample. He was treated for gastroenteritis as at the time no other causes could be identified. The bloods all came back as normal the next day and the medication stopped him vomiting. However, once off the meds he returned to being sick. We took him in for a scan and our worst fears where confirmed - it was stomach cancer and the following day the vet came out and we said our final good bye. It makes no difference that he was 14 and that you always have that little whisper in your ear of he's an old man now. Saying that final good bye breaks you and with all of this going on I simply ignored on the admin side of the rescue. So I apologies again for being late with newletters and updates.

The Winter Newsletter is now available as a pdf download from the news page of our website at http://www.nibbles.org.uk/news.html or the direct link to the download is http://www.nibbles.org.uk/assets/issue%202.pdf. So if you are looking for something to read over your coffee break we have you covered!
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If you haven't all hopped straight over and read the letter immediately then I guess you are now all waiting with baited breath to find out what this new project is all about and where our wonderful Christmas donation from everyone at PAP has headed. The rescue is 2 years old this month and sadly we are just as busy as we were when we first opened. I am, however, very happy to say that last years adoptions were also increased from 2015 and we have already had one bunny leave us for an excellent home and not only another reserved to leave next weekend but a number of adoption applications to sort through and homechecks to arrange since we changed from '16 to '17 which is great news for us as a rescue and the bunnies which need our help. I always find it surprising that people who 'want rid' manage to find us so easily but getting a good flow of successful adoptions seems to take much longer. We are all praying that this year will trump last years figures and rabbits will be hopping off to their happily ever afters quicker than before. For a long time we only had pairs of bunnies seeking homes and I am sure you all know how hard it is for these guys to gain interest. Our recent single arrivals far much better and get off to new homes with new hus or wife buns waiting to meet them. Although at present is seems everyone is searching for single ladies and as a result we now have a number of single men just waiting to find love.

So what are these plans I hear you all shouting at the screen - sorry I have digressed but it is all relevant - well sort of. The past 24 months, as I said, have shown us pairs of bunnies aren't so lucky at finding homes compared to singles and we have pairs who have been with us since we opened! With the best will in the world living in rescue is not ideal. I sadly don't have the time to give these bunnies the individual attention they would receive in a home. But we have been thinking of ways to make their life better while they wait. Like all rescues we are asked to take in more bunnies than we have available housing and while we all know if I created space for 50 rabbits today tomorrow I would need space for 60 and so on and so forth. We feel that we are now in the position to be able to expand our numbers and offer shelter to more bunnies at any one time.

Over the past 24 month the housing we have at the rescue has encountered a number of problems. Firstly much of it is too small with regard to the length of time bunnies are waiting for new homes and quite frankly I hate it. Secondly, and being very frank, it's pants! The rigors of life at a rescue has already left much of it falling apart, unable to cope with the powerhosing and disinfecting required. Secondly they simply don't offer enough protection from the fickle Welsh weather, especially during the winter months of heavy rain, high winds and frequent storms. Lastly their design makes human access very difficult when it comes to catching rabbits for health checks and treatment. Leading to extra stress the bunnies simply don't need and making it very hard for me to get inside runs and give them a good clean.

With all of this in mind the only long term solution seemed obvious, change all the current housing and create more! So this is our big mission for 2017. The plan is to replace all of our current housing with units which not only provide more space for the bunnies, but also better protection form the elements, and much easier access for us humans to effectively and efficiently clean units and catch bunnies for health checks etc. All of the replacement housing has been designed for our singletons while they await to find love. Including some larger units which which would be suitable for giant breeds (something we don't have at present).

As some of you may know, I am lucky enough to own a small smallholding so this means that space has never really been an issue for us (time and funds have always been the driving factor in limiting the number of rabbits we can house at any one time). We have a 'vacant' patch of land which sits behind the current rescue area which is doing nothing other than growing weeds and while we had intended to restore it to a veg patch when we first moved here the time taken caring for our increasing number of furry friends means realistically I have better things to do than slug patrol. This area will allow us to build a 6 unit 'bunny block' with each unit consisting of a 6'x3' 'hutch' and a 6'x10' run, giving each unit an over all space of 78 square feet. These units will be used for our pairs of bunnies, giving them plenty of space. To the other side of this space we will have space for 3 grass runs each measuring 5'x13' which our singletons can use an an extra exercise area and provide a great space for bonding to occur at the rescue.

All the new housing has been designed with both rabbits and humans in mind. We needed to find a workable solution to the current problems we have been facing and the new units are being custom made with quality materials meaning they will last the rescue many years into the future is regular maintenance. I would love to wake up tomorrow morning and not be needed anymore. But sadly we all know that this is unlikely to happen, so with this in mind doing all I can to ensure Nibbles is in the best possible position to help as many bunnies as we can for as long as possible is our priority and the reason we have made the decision at this stage of our journey to make a substantial investment in our long term infrastructure at the rescue.

The kick is that to have all of this work done we are looking at raising around 20k (with a big proportion of that needed for the new units and runs) but I am pleased to say we started to apply for grants towards the end of last year and are already close to 1/4 of the way to reaching the target amount. So now you all know where our £150 Christmas donation has ended up! We have a number of further grants to submit over the coming weeks and our aim is to have raised the required funds to replace current units by spring.

To find out more about this project and detailed information about the replacements and new units you can all hop on over to our website at http://www.nibbles.org.uk/nhp.html. We have also set up a BT mydonate page where people are able to make a donation towards this work at https://mydonate.bt.com/events/nhp/392730 and this page also contains an up to date running total if you want to see how we are getting on over the coming months. We know this is a huge project and we have a LOT of work ahead of us to get this money raised and get this new housing up, but we do feel this is the best move for the rescue as a whole and ultimately for the rabbits who need our help today, tomorrow and every day into the future.
Nibbles Rodent & Rabbit Rescue
Registered Chairty no: 1168657
Pembrokeshire
http://www.nibbles.org.uk
http://www.facebook.com/nibbleswestwales
team@nibbles.org.uk
Paypal: donations@nibbles.org.uk
sdf76
Posts: 8808
Joined: 16 Oct 2011 20:40
Location: gloucestershire

Re: Update From Nibbles

Post by sdf76 »

Thank you for the update.:)
It's always interesting to hear about the work the rescues do ( and helps raise your profile).
Gook luuck with the building of the new rabbit accommodation, and I hope 2017 will see many more rabbits going to new homes for you. :)
sue :)
Coco my 13yr old (bridge) bunny
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