Easter campaign

"EASTER'S NO FUN FOR BUNS" CAMPAIGN
It's been a while since I posted but this week I'm full of enthusiasm as I've been tackling the world of media. As Easter is soon upon us, it's a reminder for me to get the word out there to lots of people who are unaware about how wonderful our bunny friends are. Around this time many people consider buying baby bunnies for children as an Easter gift. With this kind of impulse purchase, we see a vast majority of these little innocent fluffballs either forgotten after a few months to be left alone and ignored for the rest of their short lives outside or dumped at the shelters when the family has had enough of feeding the little bunny.

So far this week we've had information read out on the PAWS radio show (3CR 855 AM, Mondays 10-11am) and Tuesday was a letter & website address printed in the city's mX newspaper encouraging people not to purchase bunnies for Easter gifts.

Hopefully with other media contacts we might get more publicity over the next few days before Easter!

FESTIVAL/MARKET INFO
We were really disappointed to not be participating in the Oakleigh Festival on Sunday. I was all geared up for it but when the letter arrived from Monash Council advising that we were required to send through our public liability insurance number, the bubble burst. By the sounds of things, all councils now require anyone participating in a public event to have their own insurance and there's no way around it. Good on one hand as everyone's covered, but lots of small community groups miss out on participating so it's a bit of a disappointment to us that it's come to people suing councils over a dodgy hotdog.

We checked out CERES market on the weekend but driving in and out of the city from the eastern suburbs on a Saturday nearly drove us mad so unfortunately that's not the right location for us either (good market though and a fabulous place to check out all sorts of environmental information - Ceres Environmental Park, Brunswick, Saturdays 9am-1pm).

LUCKY & THE KIDS
They are all doing fabulously well and are very very cute. In the mornings I sing a little song so they know it's me and they all come running. When they sleep together, they all lie on each other stretching out, legs everywhere! I wish I could keep them all here but it's all coming to a realisation that they are all going to grow up to be Lucky's size and we just don't have any more bedrooms!! As they are getting older, we need to start building another big house for either the girls or the boys to move into before we end up with a disaster on our hands!! Gussy's old house has worked out perfectly for them all as the levels are still a bit too high for the kids to jump to (fortunately for Lucky!!). She loves to watch from the first level just to keep an eye on her babies.

To Lucky's donators, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! Lucky & the kids truly appreciate your very generous and kind contribution.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere!

The baby bunnies are out of the nest and are running about like little mad things. It turns out we have seven (five mostly white, although a few will have himalayan markings, one black & white spotted with black eyes and the most gorgeous eye makeup and another that also has gorgeous eye makeup like hotots but lovely cinnamon markings on white). They are all very pretty of course and are very very friendly!! They are now eating greens, hay & pellets & drinking water from the bowl.

Lucky now lives mostly on the top floor with her own litter tray, food, water & cardboard box & towel. I think she's already a bit put off to visit the babies as they have very sharp teeth and still want to feed from her. Once she's on the ground floor, the babies run for her and try to latch on so she then runs away again. (Imagine how a mother bunny must feel raising babies in a small hutch!! It must a nightmare as a mother bunny's natural instinct is to stay away from them as much as possible and in a hutch she'd never have a moment's peace.)

Since taking on Lucky & her babies, it's got me thinking about some people who take on baby bunnies thinking that the mother is not looking after them properly. My advice to anyone who has a pregnant bunny is to leave the mother to instinctly look after her bubs and to not interfere. A mother rabbit's milk passes on all sorts of necessary antibodies to the bubs ensuring they have a long and healthy life free of illness. When people interfere and raise baby bunnies with milk substitutes, the babies really do not have a healthy gut flora to start their lives and can therefore become ill later on in life.

When baby bunnies are born, the mother has already prepared a nest in advance to ensure the bunnies are kept warm and safe. The mother bunny will not stay with the babies as cats or dogs do and only visit standing up for 5 minutes during the early morning to feed and then leave again. The milk that she provides to the babies is enough to fill them up with all sorts of goodies for 24 hours which means that what she provides must be very filling and nutritious.