5:40 p.m. - 2005-04-27
Bunny Bureaucrats
It really seems like I have nothing good to say about anyone or anything.

And all the stuff I have going on seems just too complicated.

Take yesterday for example. I went to B'ham for a meeting I've been dreading - with the director of the animal shelter there that we've been having so much trouble with. They have a brand new, multi-million dollar facility with a dedicated rabbit room. Yet, they euthanise rabbits at the drop of a hat. They have space to spare, yet they seem to not want to actually have any animals occupying it.

We've been trying to work with this shelter for about five years and having gotten anywhere. Thus the meeting with the director.

I knew immediately it was a lost cause. The first thing she announced that she had just been to a big animal welfare conference in New York and found out that rabbits were the third most popular animal at shelters in this country. Did we know this?

Um, yeah lady. Where have you been?

She kept parroting this fact throughout the meeting, like it was some amazing revealed truth. She was amazingly condescending to us and obviously had no idea what our group actually does. She gave us obnoxious little lectures on how we had to "stop being silent and go after those pet stores" (we are the reason two of the major pet stores in B'ham don't sell rabbits anymore, and why the carnivals in several counties here don't give baby bunnies as prises for the games anymore), how we shouldn't allow people to list rabbits they are trying to find homes for on our web site if they haven't spayed/neutered them (when her shelter does not spay/neuter their rabbits either and we have gotten at least one rabbit from them who had gotten pregnant while in their care and had six babies three days after we took her), and she baldly told us they haven't euthanised a bunny for a long time (they have euthanised at least six I know of in the last month.)

And, she went on about how she was proud of herself that she had the strength to euthanise an animal, and basically said we were living in la la land if we thought there was any alternative to large numbers of euthanised animals. She seemed totally unwilling to entertain any ideas about us possibly being able to help her turn away from that path as far as rabbits are concerned.

Grrrrr. You know what I hate? I hate bureaucrats with no imagination. I think the animal welfare movement has too many bureaucrats and not enough visionaries. I think we need more people living in La La Land. It's a nice place and good things happen there.

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And speaking of La La Land - I got to pay a nice visit there on Monday night! I took Babs and Snookums, my former foster bunnies, to their new home!!

Their new caretaker was so excited to see them, and she showed me all the toys she had for them and we got them set up. When I left Babs was already exploring and Snookie was sacked out in his litter box.

And after we got home there was a call from their new caretaker. I panicked, thinking something was wrong, but no, she just wanted to tell me that Babs was dancing.

Happy ever after. I need more of those. I think the shelter director needs to see a few of them as well. Maybe she would be a little more open to working with us if she got to see the happy ever after once in awhile.

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And in the not happy ever after: Miss Bunny has either reabcessed, or has an infected tear duct. I discovered on Monday that she had a big lump under her eye. So she went to see Alvin yesterday.

He looked tired. One of his dogs is a serious special needs puppy and has seizures. Alvin had been up all night with him and it wasn't looking good. And Miss Bunny's abcess didn't make his day either, especially as she had been doing so well.

He lanced it and squished the pus out of it (to help you get the proper mental image, bunny pus looks like cream cheese) and she is going back on bicillin. Poor Miss Bunny......

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