We’re so excited for June 6! We’ll be at Whisker Walk and would love to have you stop by. The focus is on dogs and cats, but we’ll be there to point out the simple fact that bunnies have whiskers, too! And need help from rescue organizations to live in wonderful, forever homes.

Whisker Walk will be held on Sunday June 6^th 2010 in Lancaster, MA.

A fun outdoor educational day for dogs and the humans that care for them (PLUS a human/dog walk-a-thon fundraiser for rescue/shelters). The 2009 Whisker Walk brought 100+ animal rescue groups and pet related vendors, manufacturers and pet related service companies. In addition, pet owners and animal lovers can WALK to lend a paw for YOUR organization they love — see exhibits, demonstrations, educational programs, special attractions, product giveaways, entertainment, food, fun and things for adults and kids to see, do and buy — both human- and pet-related!

Date: Sunday, June 6^th 2010

Event hrs: 11 a.m.  – 3 p.m.

There’s a mile-long fundraising walk at noon! If you’d like to walk and get sponsors, let us know!

Where:   Lancaster Fairground – Home of the Bolton Fair, Rt. 117 in Lancaster, MA. Centrally located —minutes from Rt. 2, Rt. 190, 495 only 20 minutes from Worcester and 30 miles from Boston! Click here for door to door directions. VIEW MAP
50+ acres of flat, shaded paths (handicapped accessible) the grounds are enormous and the day promises to be so much fun! Come join us!

Dr. Amy Matthews

Dr. Amy Matthews completed the rigorous dual degree program at the University of Pennsylvania, through which she obtained her veterinary degree (VMD) and her PhD in Immunology, completing both in 2001. After graduation, Dr. Matthews completed a small animal medicine and surgery internship at Carolina Veterinary Specialists.  She received her certificate in veterinary acupuncture from Colorado State University and her certificate in animal chiropractic from the Healing
Oasis Wellness Center in Sturtevant, WI.

Proficient in reading, writing, and speaking Chinese, Dr. Matthews has studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Harbin, China. Her additional clinical interests include herbal medicine, Nambudriprad’s Allergy Elimination Technique, and homeopathy.

She enjoys treating exotic species such as rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and birds as well as treating dogs and cats. Her experiences include working with wildlife rehabilitation and externships at the Bronx Zoo and at MarineWorld.  After practicing for 3 years as a staff veterinarian at the Banfield Pet Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, she relocated to Connecticut where she has devoted her work primarily to veterinary acupuncture and chiropractic care with herbal support and Western diagnostics as indicated. She currently works at the holistic medical practice Frontier Medicine in East Granby.

Beckett was a frisky bunny with his new stuffed animal bunny, but this is exactly why you should fix your bunnies! HRC spays and neuters every rabbit before we adopt them out.

Wish us luck!

Where It All Began

In 2002, in an attempt to address the problem, the Columbus House Rabbit Society began a campaign to educate the public on the realities of living with a rabbit, and to discourage giving live rabbits as Easter gifts. Using ceramic pins in the form of chocolate bunnies as the symbol, the campaign’s goal is to spread the message that rabbits should not be casually acquired and to educate the public about the special needs of these often-fragile creatures. The pins serve as conversation starters. Comments about the pin provide the wearer the opportunity to share our message with the general public. These informal conversations are supported by a card that is distributed with each pin, and by business cards that can be handed out to interested parties.

Both the pin card and the business card list important facts that should be considered before bringing a rabbit into the home. Our goal is to educate the public of the challenges of properly caring for rabbits and to encourage them to purchase chocolate Easter bunnies (or stuffed toy animals) rather than live rabbits. The “Make Mine Chocolate!™” campaign discourages the purchase of rabbits as Easter gifts faces the unique challenge of educating potential rabbit purchasers before the purchase is made. In order for this campaign to succeed, we must take our message to the American public. We offer attractive, high-quality products that can be worn or displayed as a means to spread our message and to encourage dialogue with curious friends and acquaintances. Our prices have been competitively set in order to encourage purchase by as many people as possible.

Ways You Can Help

Print and send these Make Mine Chocolate postcards! Print and post these Make Mine Chocolate flyers! Hand out these Make Mine Chocolate business cards or post them to community bulletin boards! Check out MakeMineChocolate.org’s extensive marketing packet and share with every animal lover (and especially every person you know considering getting a rabbit for an Easter present)!

For More Information

Visit MakeMineChocolate.org!

The page after you click has an inconspicuous “Vote Today” button above the “Thank you — your click has been counted” message. If you click that Vote button, you get to vote for your favorite shelter (must be listed on Petfinder) and the shelters with the most votes each week (2 per week) win $1,000 towards helping animals. Shelters big and small are winning dough for their charges.

So go click and donate those bowls of food, then don’t forget to vote for House Rabbit Connection (you must select MA as the state in which we’re located). Each subsequent day you click and vote, HRC will show up as an option for one-click voting.

Tell all your friends! Repost this blog post, tweet about it, repost to your Facebook Wall, whatever. We could save a lot of bunnies with $1,000 and the publicity would help us spread the word that rabbits belong inside homes, not in hutches in back yards.

For all of you who need a happy and hopeful story for the holiday season, read this story about how a woman fled her abusive husband with nothing but her rabbit named Ruby Angel. That rabbit helped the woman get through probably the

worst time of her life. Ruby Sue is now in foster care, hopefully to be reunited with her owner, but safe and warm and well-fed in the meantime.

Do you have a special cause that you donate time and attention to? Comment on this post and let us know about the ways you make a difference in the world.

If you’d like to sign up to volunteer for any of these events, please contact Marlene Wilhelm. We need wrappers!

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Sat., December 5
6pm to 11pm

Barnes & Noble
Shoppers World
Framingham, MA
View Map

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Sat., December 12
4pm to 10pm

Borders
Holyoke Mall at Ingleside
Holyoke, MA
View Map

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Sun., December 13
9am to 4pm

Barnes & Noble
Enfield, CT
View Map

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Fri., December 18
4pm to 10pm

Barnes & Noble
The Shoppes at Farmington Valley
Canton, CT
View Map

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Fri., December 18
3pm to 7pm

Barnes & Noble
Blue Back Square
West Hartford, CT
View Map

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Sat. December 19
4pm to 10pm

Barnes & Noble
Enfield, CT
View Map

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Sun., December 20
6pm to 9pm

Barnes & Noble
Blue Back Square
West Hartford, CT
View Map

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Mon., December 21
3pm to 9pm

Barnes & Noble
Farmington, CT
View Map

Stay tuned to our events page for more exciting educational events for next year!

Click to enlarge

Download or listen to Hopline, episode 7: Flyer packs spread rabbit education.

Posting a flyer is one of the easiest ways you can help house rabbits and the House Rabbit Connection. Community bulletin boards are still a great resource for education and interest. In this episode of Hopline, we share the story of how Jean Beckley, Advertising Director for the Willimantic Chronicle, got her graphic artists to help us create an educational and eye-catching flyer and how you can get a flyer pack to spread the word about house rabbits in your neighborhood.

Thanks to Jean Beckley for helping HRC. Thanks to Marlene Wilhelm for sharing this story with us. Thanks to Sarah Seger for putting together the flyer packs, so posting them is as easy as possible. Thanks for Deb Young for coming up with the flyer concept.

Download the House Rabbit Connection flyer, print it out and share it with your community! Or email us for a flyer pack.