Xzibit

I don't know how many of you readers went to see Xzibit when he was at Evolution here in Victoria. In any case - we contacted him to see if he'd be willing to meet and discuss a Pimp My Ride idea while in Victoria. Sadly there is no way for someone who does not reside in the US (IP address checking by MTV) to submit a Pimp My Ride proposal to MTV.

The basic premise was this:
a) 1980s vintage VW Rabbit, to be donated to Wild Rose Rescue Ranch for them to use for running rabbits to/from the vet, and for snagging supplies
b) playing on the "Yo Dawg" meme, Xzibit and gang should have been able to leverage the "putting rabbits in yo Rabbit" gag for humor/ratings, plus poke fun at the "Yo Dawg" meme crowd
c) exposure via MTV would bring much needed attention (and hopefully help/donations) to Wild Rose Rescue Ranch

Not surprisingly; we did not get a response. One can only wonder at the volume of crap that flows into his inbox on a daily basis =/

But hey, if anybody reading this in the USA is feeling adventurous and wants to take this on - please go for it :)

Trapping at UVic Set to Resume

We have it on good authority that the trappers, that UVic Finance/FacMan has contracted, will be resuming their rabbit trapping activities. We will keep you posted with any news on this front.

truck

I think it's time to trumpet some of the stuff we're getting done behind the scenes. Since well before we moved the first batch to Texas, we'd been investigating the most cost-effective ways to accomplish this. To this end, we are trying to secure a vehicle (or trailer) capable of moving a larger number of rabbits at a reasonable cost.

As a bit of a backgrounder -- the cost to move the first batch of 47 UVic bunnies to Texas was around (receipts still need a final tally) $2000. This was done entirely using rental vehicles. Part of the value of this trip was gathering on-the-ground logistical info, but the per-bunny cost is roughly $43 for this trip. We would like to see this pushed well below $30 per rabbit, and that mandates a different mode of transport.

We had been offered the services of an animal transport truck by a US-based charity, but the cost they'd proposed to us was $14000 for the trip, once we got the rabbits into Washington state. I have not been given a clear answer on how many their truck could take, so the value proposition is unclear. This is further complicated by the fact that the BC Ministry of Environment permit only allows us to posses 96 rabbits at any one time. This would mandate the use of another vehicle to get rabbits from BC to somewhere in Washington, as well as the staging area itself, along with associated costs of keeping rabbits there until we have enough queued to fill their vehicle.

One of our group has located a promising truck on the island. The owner (and his accountant) were unfortunately unable find an economically sound way to donate it to TRACS, but the price is good. We are currently only about $1000 shy of being able to purchase it outright. Arrangements are being made to have a qualified mechanic perform (possibly donate) an inspection, as well.

Such a truck would be owned by TRACS, at least for the duration of this operation. After that time, TRACS could opt to sell it or keep it for other projects they have.

What still needs to be determined is whether this truck would move UVic rabbits:

1. to a staging area in the US, where they are transfered to a larger-volume transport
-or-
2. all the way to Texas

The first is attractive as it would mean that we could further leverage economies of scale. There have been some ongoing discussions with US-based transporters. More information on this will follow.

We have also secured the services of a metal fabricator/machinist who will donate his services to weld up racking/shelving to hold rabbit cages/carriers securely during transport. The hard work of our volunteers has resulted in us having a pretty decent supply of carriers (though we can always use more).

Among the things we'd still need add to the truck are:
(aside from that bit of money indicated above)

• RV air-conditioning unit to keep temperatures in the box comfortable and safe
  (Texas is still having some pretty warm weather)
• pop-up RV skylights/vents to allow exhausting of warm/smelly air
• 1"x2"x1/8" (cross-section) aluminum angle extrusion for the racking/shelving in the box
• vinyl flooring (and adhesive) to line the truck box bottom to make it easier to keep sanitary

If any of our readers know of someone who has such things - please
email me and I'll get the info to the appropriate person(s).

First Shipment of UVic Rabbits in Texas

The first 47 UVic rabbits arrived in Texas late on Friday, October 8th, 2010. These rabbits had been captured at UVic, handed-off to volunteers, surgically sterilized by BC veterinarians, and then queued in Washington in preparation for transport to sanctuary in Texas.

The value of the information gathered during this operation should not be underestimated. Everything we learned will be essential to future UVic rabbit transfers to Wild Rose Rescue Ranch in Texas.

More donations are needed to keep this running, so please see the TRACS donation page (donation button is near the bottom) and follow the directions.

More information to follow...

Laura-Leah Shaw gets permit to move 1000 rabbits to Texas

The permit that has been reported, allowing 1000 rabbits to be moved to Texas, has been confirmed. Excerpts of this permit have been made available and can be seen here. The permit in its entirety can be obtained from the BC Ministry of Environment, quoting the indicated permit number.

There have been a number of unconfirmed rumors of permits being issued for other sanctuary groups, but the above is the only case where we have been sent a copy of the permit. We have received permission to publish the permit in the form which can be seen at the above link. Some information from the original was redacted to comply with privacy concerns that were expressed.

UVic's Plan of June 15th

UVic released their plan a couple of weeks ago, as indicated in my recent post. Jordan kindly gave us permission to use the letter that UVic had addressed to him. As far as we know, 5 of these letters sent to all the sanctuaries and other groups that were interested in the welfare of the UVic rabbits. You can tell they worked really hard to find 5 groups. (Yes, that was sarcasm... in case anyone was wondering.)

Anyway; the pdf letter was evidently scanned from a dead-tree original, rendered as a graphic, or something. As a result there was easy no way to extract text from it. Since I have better things to do than retype their typing, I'm just going to post it, and link to it here.

The Mount Tolmie Community Association

The Mount Tolmie Community Association has apparently had an AGM and new directors have been elected. Patty Mack is now listed as the past president, but she is still part of the executive for their current operating year.

One has to wonder if Marlene Bergstrom, the current MTCA president, also wants to be called about MTCA concerns at (250) 472-2246. Does she want to hear from people who are concerned about the MTCA stance on the UVic rabbits?