Hi all

  I've been wondering alot lately what it would take to set up a rescue. I've volunteered with rescues before, currently volunteer at a horse rescue....

I REALLY REALLY want to set up a rabbit rescue. You should see, there is tonnes of bunnies at our humane society and I'm sure they don't get looked after with enough attention that they need. What I want to develop is a system of foster homes for a rescue group, get some vets to do pro-bono work for us, spay/neuter initiative program (ok I am getting ahead of myself here but) etc.

Can people who are involved in rescues (and anyone else) help me, pointing out things I may not have thought of that would need to be done to establish a rescue organization? Any help, pointers, warnings etc. would be greatly appreciated!

I would think I would need one or two more strongly involved adults to co-found the organization as well.... Any tips on how to recruit?

I would suggest talking to someone who has already set up a rescue and is running it successfully.  You could contact Marcy Scharf who founded Save A Bunny in Mill Valley, California.  Her # is 415-388-2790 or go to www.saveabunny.com.  There are many rescues here that people are involved with that could guide you I'm sure.  That's just great you want to do this!

You might also contact Olga Betts at the Vancouver Rabbit Rescue and Adovacy since she is a Canadian Rabbit Rescue.

www.vrra.org/about.htm

That's even better to talk to someone in Canada as laws may be different than the U.S.

Wow K&K, it is a big step to go out on your own.  I will echo the sentiment of seeing if you can hook up with an established rescue rather than going alone.  Establishing non-profit status (at least in The States) is not trivial, fund raising is a pain, getting volunteers is hard, etc.  In addition to Marcy, you can contact Heather Bechtel at director@therabbithaven.org, she can give you some additional information.

In my opinion, being in rescue is great, but running a rescue is very hard.  You have to deal with losing animals you cannot help, calls from people wanting to dump their animals, terribly neglected and injured animals, turning away animals that you know will be euthanized if you don't take them, etc.  Make sure that you leave space for yourself, or it can become all consuming.

Another option is to set yourself up under the umbrella of an established shelter.  Several of the shelters we work with have "Friends of..." organizations that help with fund raising, off site adoption events, volunteer coordination and recruiting foster sites.  Here are a couple of examples:

Friends of the Watsonville Animal Shelter

Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals

K&K, another little tip from the "darker" side of rescue.  As best as you can, try not to let people outside of your immediate volunteers know where you live or allow pickups/deliveries at your residence.  Adoption appointments and such should be done at a 3rd location.  We often use PetsMart or For Other Living Things as waypoints and meeting places.  If word gets out that a rescuer lives at a certain place, people will dump rabbits at your door or on your lawn .  This has never happened to me, but it has happend to Heather, our Director.

I know absolutely nothing about this but my gut reaction is to start small as Sarita advises.  Just start fostering a few and see how it grows.  Did you talk to anyone yet who has actually started a rescue?

wow... just read thru this thread.  very exciting k&k!  as you prolly know, i have no rescue experience BUT i do have experience starting up a business and i think starting small is def the way to go.  get as simple a system going as possible and get the feel for it before you expand.  especially if you're considering setting up a charity which would require expensive legal & accounting setups since it also costs money to close down organizations if you find it's not working out.  have you heard of http://www.rabbitrescue.ca/aboutus....60;?  i wonder if haviva would offer any advice?