What's up, doc? A local shelter just for rabbits By Donna Williams Lewis Ellen Stilwell lives in a very hoppy household. The Tucker home she shares with her husband is also home to nine rescued domestic rabbits, including a couple of senior rabbits and two certified as therapy pets. Stilwell is an educator for the shelter that eight of her rabbits came from, a Marietta facility that’s unique in Georgia and one of very few like it in the country. It’s a shelter for rabbits only, operated by the Georgia House Rabbit Society (GHRS) rescue organization. To date, the organization has rescued more than 3,500 domestic rabbits. “Some of these bunnies that we’ve rescued have come from horrific situations and yet their hearts are so big and they love the safety that you give them and they’re so resilient,” said Stilwell, who runs the Crime Victims Compensation Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. “They bring joy to people. When you pet them, they’re soft and they’re furry and fluffy and they just elicit such a feeling of love and comfort,” she said. Linda Reed, of Kennesaw, has volunteered with the nonprofit, no-kill shelter for several years. “I volunteer because, despite being 76, it gives me a purpose to serve in my community,” Reed said. “Bunnies have always been my passion and this keeps me active while playing with these sweet ones.” GHRS was founded in 1996 when rabbits were rising in popularity as house pets and there were few animal facilities that would take abandoned rabbits, according to shelter Manager Jennifer McGee. “Rabbits are the third companion animal behind dogs
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and cats,” McGee said. “They stay in the home, they’re litter box trained, they’re very neat and tidy, and you don’t have to walk them.” But the “prey animals” are often misunderstood pets that can get frightened when picked up. They bond in pairs and can reproduce at light speed, live for 10 to 12 years, and have delicate bones. “Dropping a bunny is a broken leg, for sure,” McGee said. GHRS gets more than 1,000 requests each year from owners and breeders who want to surrender their rabbits to the shelter. Rabbits adopted from its facility can be returned, but other rabbits can only be taken under extreme circumstances, when space permits. The shelter focuses on rescuing rabbits who are facing death at other animal shelters and rabbits that have been abandoned to the outdoors where they could be attacked or eaten by other animals, get hit by a car, or die from sickness, starvation or abuse. In 2015, the shelter took in 186 rabbits in one day that had been confiscated from a backyard petting zoo in Gwinnett County. The shelter stays hopping with an average 150 to 200 rabbits on-site and in foster homes at any given time, McGee said. Right now, the shelter is taking a giant leap of its own. Run initially out of members’ homes, GHRS moved into its current building in 2005. This summer, the group is relocating to a 6,500-square-foot building purchased in December that more than triples its space. Located near the historic district of Downtown Kennesaw, the new facility allows room to expand shelter operations, which include serving as an educational center, a boarding facility and a source for rabbit
AUGUST 2020 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
supplies. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the shelter has been open to the public by appointment only and the adoption process has been refined, McGee said. “Because we were open to the public, people wouldn’t do their research before they would drive over and they would just walk in thinking they would leave with a rabbit, which isn’t the case. There were lots of crying children and angry parents,” McGee said. “We’ve found that that kind Continued on page 8
At top, volunteer Linda Reed pats a bunny. At bottom, shelter manager Jennifer McGee says that after dogs and cats, rabbits are the most popular companion animals (SPECIAL)
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