The Bunny Bunch was established in 1984 by
Caroline Charland to help rabbits in need.
We are a non profit, no kill rescue and
education organization run entirely by
volunteers. Over the years we have rescued
thousands of rabbits, mostly from high kill
shelters.
Most of the rabbits we rescue come from city
and county shelters. These rabbits would
have otherwise been euthanized.
Unfortunately rabbits are taken to these
shelters everyday, mostly because people
have bought them from a pet shop, breeder or
swap meet without learning about their care
or knowing what to expect. They are often
bought for young children who cannot care
for them. They are left in cages, hutches
or outside with no protection from predators.
It is our goal to place Bunny Bunch rabbits
into loving homes where they will spend the
rest of their life in a happy, healthy,
environment. We do this by helping people
make the right choice about adopting a
rabbit, by educating them about rabbits
and
their care, and what to expect when you
have a rabbit living in your home as part of
the family. We also stay up to date
with the
latest in health care for rabbits
and work with many veterinarians across the
United States and
even in other
countries.
In December 2007 we opened
our first adoption and education center in
Montclair, California called the Burrow. The
Burrow is a
safe haven for rabbits to
live until they find their forever home. We
always have lots of rabbits, chinchillas and
guinea pigs waiting
for homes.
We
have a classroom where we hold seminars and
workshops for the public, teaching them all
about rabbit care. We also offer
programs to teach shelters, vet techs and
even veterinarians about rabbit care and
health.
Our store Bunny Bunch
Boutique is packed full of healthy goodies
for rabbits, chinchillas and guinea pigs. We
ship our products
all over the United States
and also offer a wholesale line.
Bunny sitting, bonding and grooming are also
offered as one of our services at the Burrow.
The Hop Café is a place you can
come and relax with your rabbit if you
please. We show rabbit movies, have lots of
nice snacks
and rabbit books for you to read
as well as rabbit lovers to chat with.
We do have a spay and neuter program
here at the Burrow for the animals we
rescue. At times we are able to offer low
cost spay
and neuter to the public.
We hope that one day because of our work
and the work of others that rabbits won’t
be sold at swap meets, feed stores, pet
shops and street corners. And that they
won’t be used for testing products or used
in experiments or bred for food. We hope
that
they will be recognized as the
wonderfully delightful creature they really
are.
Our entire organization runs on
donations, grants and profits from our
store.
Bunny Bunch Board of Directors
 President & Founder Caroline Charland |
A number of different rabbits live with me in my home. I take home the sick and injured rabbits to care for them while they recover until they are well enough to be adopted. Some tend to stay with me due to ongoing special or medical needs. I love them all. |
 Vice President Kim Scharf |
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My life with bunnies
started 18 years ago. April 19, 1991
is the day Smokey came into my life.
He was a birthday gift from my
husband and what a gift he was. He
was a tiny little black bundle of
joy who I fell instantly in love
with and vice versa. Smokey is the
bunny that started it all! HE is the reason for my rabbit habit. And, approximately 8 years ago the Bunny Bunch came into my life. What the Bunny Bunch has done and continues to do for bunnies and other small furries is nothing short of wonderful and amazing. The many lives that have been saved by this great organization and all the wonderful volunteers are numerous. |
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Event Coordinator |
I have been volunteering for the Bunny Bunch for over 10 years. I got involved when I found a rabbit wandering in the street, decided to keep him and take him to Bunny Bunch for a nail trim. I ended up staying the entire time at the adoption event that day, and adopted a 2nd rabbit! Now I have 7 rabbits of my own plus a menagerie of other fur kids. |
How We Started
At six years old I wanted to help animals in
need so I raised money while living in
England for the R.S.P.C.A. (Royal
Society for Prevention of Cruelty of
Animals). I did this by putting on concerts
in our back garden, selling baked goods,
dog walking and carol-singing with other
children in the area.
Once I moved
to America I volunteered with cat rescue
groups, helping them with events and
fundraising. Realizing quickly how
bad
pet overpopulation was, I really became
motivated to change that.
As
far as rescuing rabbits it all started when
I came upon a rabbit in a pet shop. He
was sitting in a little wire cage full
of poop, with
an empty food and water bowl.
The cage was dirty and he had no space to
run around.
I asked someone who
worked there to please give him some food
and water. I waited around for about twenty
minutes and they did nothing. I went
home and told my husband about this poor
rabbit that needed a home. We got straight
in the car to go back to get
him. We
named him Benjamin Bunny.
Having
cats all my life I knew nothing about
rabbits. I tried to find some books, but
there really wasn’t any good information
available. The books that I read told
me to put a rabbit in a cage or a hutch
outside. I was living in Southern California
and I just couldn’t believe that a rabbit
would live well outside in a hutch,
especially when it got hot. So we made
him a home in our apartment. To my amazement
he started to use our cats litter box. I
thought this was super! He could now
live loose in our apartment just like our
cat. The cat and
rabbit, after being
introduced properly, got along fine.
In fact the rabbit was the boss.
Then, I came home from work one day to find
the phone cords chewed through, the
wallpaper shredded off the bottom of the
walls
and the carpet pulled up. So we
sectioned off the kitchen with a baby gate,
seeing that there was no wallpaper in
there, and the
floor was wood. We
unplugged the electric cords he could reach,
and made sure the phone cord was out of
site.
It came to my attention that he
may be lonely while we were at work, so I
set out to find him a friend. I didn’t want
to buy another
rabbit from a pet shop as I
realized that was just helping the pet shop
to have a never ending stream of rabbits
living in bad
conditions, as well as putting
money in their pockets.
Just by chance shortly thereafter, I saw a
sign that said Free Rabbit while I was
driving home from work one day. The
people said
they had bought the rabbit for
their child who was no longer interested in
it. They put him in a box and handed him
to me.
I kept my fingers crossed
that he was a boy as we didn’t want any baby
rabbits. Once I got home I checked, and yes, he was a
boy. We named him Ramsey
Rabbit.
I set him up in the bathroom
for the night so I could put the buns
together on the weekend. Little did I know
that rabbits couldn’t just
be put
together. A fight broke out so I had to
separate them.
I knew that tom cats
liked to fight and that neutering helped
calm them down so they could get along. I
called my cat vet and asked
if he could
neuter my rabbits. As luck would have it he
had neutered rabbits before, so I set up an
appointment to have it done. Once
neutered I put them together on the couch
with me so they could get to know each other
for a few nights in a row. From then on
they became friends and both lived to be
twelve years old.
The word got out
that I had a pair of rabbits. Little by
little rabbits that were no longer wanted,
or rabbits people had found were brought
to me. It wasn’t long before I had a house
full of rabbits! Seeing that there
were alot of rescue groups helping cats
and dogs I decided to start a group just to
help rabbits. Not only did I want to find
homes for rabbits, I wanted to help
rabbits have a better life once they were in
a home.
I couldn’t stand the thought
of so many people putting rabbits in cages
and hutches. You would never put a cat or a
dog in a cage.
Why would you put a
rabbit in one? Now that my rabbits used a
litter box and lived indoors in a rabbit
proof area I wanted others to
know how to do
that too. After all, with the rabbits living
indoors you could spend much more time with
them and you realized what wonderful
creatures they really are.
Bunny
Bunch Boutique was started shortly after the
Bunny Bunch due to the fact there were
little or no supplies for rabbits in the
pet shops that were any good, plus it was a
great way to raise money to help rescued
rabbits.
We like to teach children about animal care and
how precious they are. These children visited
the Burrow after holding a fundraiser to help
the rabbits there. Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, and
home schooling groups often visit the Burrow and
hold fundraisers to help us. Please email