Photographing dressed-up rabbits is a hair-pulling task
Pineapple is shown here with Santa. He is a very friendly young dwarf looking for a home.
Photo courtesy of GLRS.
About a month ago, I received an email from a website that the Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary belongs to called Bunspace.com. The letter asked if we would be interested in participating in a program to receive Christmas bags for all of our sanctuary rabbits. I immediately filled out the paperwork and sent it back but really didn’t expect to be chosen. I thought asking for 75 bags might be a long shot. But, to my surprised, we received word this week that we were one of the 18 rescues chosen.
For the last two years, Bunspace.com has delivered gifts to the bunnies in the San Francisco Bay area. This year, they decided to expand the program to rescues all over the U.S. and Canada. Gifts are expected to arrive the early part of December. I can't wait to take video footage when Santa delivers them.
Bunspace.com is a relatively unknown social website which caters to rabbit owners. In order to view the site, you do need to join. However, membership is free. For a new bunny parent, it is a great site to find information, products, vets and events. It also offers shelters a place to list their adoptables, very similar to Petfinder.com, Pets911.com and Adoptapet.com.
One of the things that I love most about this site are the wonderful contests they have.
Currently, they have a “Lippity Lop Ears” contest, along with another one called "Pretty Pointy Ears." Entering your rabbit into the contest is easy and free. However, taking a great picture is another story.
Ms. Eva placed second in the "Trick or Treats" contest, sponsored by Petsandpeoplebymp.com. | Photo Courtesy of Allison Turbee.
Members view each contestants and award them carrots. The scale runs from one to five carrots. I am always impressed with the pictures and want to award five carrots to everyone.
The most recent contest was called "Trick or Treat." It was sponsored by a company called Petsandpeople.com.
Ms. Eva, or Evers as her mother calls her, is an adorable 4-year-old rabbit from St. Petersburg, Fla. She took placed second in the contest, as a shark.
Max is a 7-year-old Havana. He was more interest in eating the pumpkin than getting his picture taken. | Photo Courtesy of Debbie Ann
I don't like the idea of putting clothes on rabbits, especially since they already have fur coats. But after the pumpkin pictures, I felt a little desperate. I decide to try to take some pictures of Jack wearing a little pink coat.
Jack tried his best to remove this little coat. | Photo courtesy of Debbie Ann.
This was a horrible idea. Similar to when he wore a harness, I think he felt restrained and began to pick at the collar. After a couple minutes of fighting with him to keep it on, I gave up and took the coat off. I didn't want to stress him out over this contest. I refer to these pictures as "animal cruelty." I guess we can't all be photographers.
Debbie Ann is a volunteer at Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary (GLRS) in Willis, Mich. She can be reached at debbie@rabbitsanctuary.org.
Comments
Lorrie Shaw
Thu, Nov 11, 2010 : 11:57 p.m.
Great information, Debbie. Glad to know that there are more resources out there for new rabbit parents, and it looks especially kid-friendly -- all the more important!