Volume 5, Issue 1 - Februrary 2005

News from the Sanctuaries and Satellites

The Welch Sanctuary
Another winter is already half over and the bunns have comfortably survived a few sub-zero nights up here thanks to their numerous straw bales to hide under and the heat lamps spread throughout the building. The bunns are also growing accustomed to each other, as we have noticed a lot more commingling of groups in the past few months. It's always so heartwarming to see large groups of bunns snuggling up with each other.

On a sad note, Madison, our special needs head-tilt bunny, died on Christmas Day. He was showing signs of kidney failure during his last days. Madison was a member of our family for almost six years and we know that he was over 10-years old. He had been living inside the house for the past two years, since he developed his head-tilt, and he happily shared his space with Fiver and Barkley. We all miss him very much.

Another tune-up session was held at the end of October and all of the bunns checked out very well. We'd like to extend many thanks to Pam True, Vickie Gamble, Debby Schmidt, Kim Schulte, Nancy LaRoche and Susie Brown for coming up to help with this semi-annual checkup. It's a great benefit for us to receive this very necessary assistance.

As we move into spring, we'll be doing some work on the rabbit house to open up more pens so that we might take another 4 to 6 less-adoptable bunnies. We would like to take them during the summer so that they can adapt to their new environment before the cold sets in.
--Dave Welch and Lynn Halpern

The Ewy Sanctuary
In November, Ben and Chaco came to the sanctuary from the Broomfield foster facility. We gave Chaco a new name, Jerri, and now Ben and Jerri are settling in to the sanctuary.

The bunnies have experienced a variety of weather conditions this fall and winter. There have been warm 70 degree days and several periods of cold weather. During the cold periods, we gather the rabbits up and put them in the barns. The week before Christmas the sanctuary withstood 80+ mph winds. Fortunately, after the winds subsided, the only repair necessary was to re-attach a few solar screens.

We had some sad times and illnesses. Chimi, who we adopted from the Colorado HRS in 1994, died in October. Felix, one of the original sanctuary bunnies, began to decline in late December. He struggled valiantly but we felt it was time to let him go. On New Year's Eve, Dr. Bock put him to sleep. We miss his beautiful brown eyes and spirit.

Houdini, who came from the Northern group last year, has battled dental problems from the beginning. These flared up again at Christmas, and Dr. Julie came to examine him. She consulted with Dr. Matt Johnston at CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Dr. Johnston feels Houdini needs significant surgery on his right jaw.

On Christmas Eve, we found one of our Pueblo bunnies, Vanilla, unable to balance and stumbling around. We began treating her, and after Christmas took her to Dr. Bock. X-rays confirmed an inner ear infection. We are still treating her for this.
--Leslie & Stewart

News From the North
The holidays were quiet for us, with few adoptions and no scheduled informational events. We continue placing the foster bunnies that we receive from the Larimer Humane Society. Some of the bunnies have cooperated; others have had to be "traded" for a more appropriate bunny at the HRS foster facilities. This happens mainly because of difficulty in pairing an already owned bunny with available foster bunnies. I’m sure many of you know how discriminating bunnies can be when choosing a partner.

I had a personal experience with this situation when a wonderful Dutch named Dora, came to us from the Humane Society as a "behavior" problem. She would not pair with my boy bunny, Ashton. We traded Dora for Phoebe, a foster bunny at the Broomfield shelter. Phoebe was much easier to pair with Ashton. However, while she was honeymooning with him in Broomfield, it was discovered that she had bone cancer. Surgery was performed to remove a front leg. Fortunately, her prognosis seems good and we're just delighted to have her with us! Dora is now at the HRS foster facilities waiting to be adopted.
-- Christine Haas, Satellite Manager and Educator, Fort Collins, 970-493-6965, bosshaas@msn.com

News From the West
No report at this time.
-- Debby Widolf, Satellite Manager and Educator, Durango, 970-259-5633, rosebud@frontier.net

News From Hot Sulphur Springs
The Colorado HRS has established it’s most recent Satellite at the home of Sandy and Clint Roberts in Hot Sulphur Springs. Look for more information on this new Satellite in upcoming issues of the Bunny Ruuner.
-- Sandy & Clint Roberts, Satellite Managers, Hot Sulphur Springs, 970-725-3663, skrckr@earthlink.net