Rabbit and Pocket Pet Adoptions
We were not accepting or recording unwanted pets for 2008, 2009 or 2010, so there were no updates for these years.
Please take time to consider that rabbits and small pets die daily because there are too few "forever homes" to accommodate them all.
Are you trying to find a new home for a rabbit? Please follow this link for advice on placing your rabbit on your own. While the article is geared towards placing rabbits, the tips work for placing other pets.
Please think about the unwanted rabbits already in the world before you decide to breed more just "to show the kids" or to "make one just like this one". Rabbits can live to be over 10 years old. Sadly, many pet rabbits don't live to see a year old! They are discarded at 8-12 months old when the family gets tired of them. (This is the average age of rabbits needing in here!) Time is running out on a minute by minute basis for rabbits in shelters, in homes where they are un-wanted, on the streets, etc. Why are there unwanted rabbits in need of rescue? Even small pets like hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, chinchillas, and misc, are in need of new homes frequently, as shown by the following statistics.
Here is the main breakdown showing how many pets we were asked to help each month in 2011! Click on the blue links to see the detailed totals for how many of each were able to come in, how many were adopted out by the rescue, and how many calls or e-mails we received for each type for the entire year. Looking for stats for 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007?
Monthly stats for 2011! Updated: 01/05/2012 04:00 PM
| Pet Type | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Rabbit | 12 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 119 | 19 | 12 | 5 | 27 | 4 | 18 | 12 |
| Hamster | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Guinea pig | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Rat | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| Chinchilla | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Those above numbers mean that 265 rabbits, 18 hamsters, 11 guinea pigs, 66 rats, 14 chinchillas, 36 others for a total of 410 pets have needed new homes for various reasons since January 1, 2011 and their owners called or emailed us to ask for assistance in placing them! This count includes the multiple unwanted pets owned by the same families-often they were born to incorrectly sexed parents as a surprise litter, or worse, these are babies born because the parents were allowed to breed to "make more like them" or "have some cute babies" without thinking ahead. There are so many unwanted mixed breed or "pet quality" animals in the world already that even cute babies don't find good homes easily. When they realized how hard it was to place even baby pets in good homes, they called us to help.
Remember, although this count is high, it's only the pets *we* were asked to take. It does not include the pets who were turned over to animal shelters, needed to get into other rescues, given away for free in the paper, dumped at pet stores, or turned loose to fend for themselves that we were not directly asked to help!
The total number of pets needing in is simply the count of how many were needing in, NOT how many we were able to take in!!! We were able to take in only 3 of the 410 pets we were asked to help. We wish we could have helped them all!
We could adopt rabbits or small animals to anyone who asked for one to help the adoption rate go up, but that would mean that many rabbits and small pets would be adopted into impulse homes, only to wind up as a "statistic" again at a later date when the novelty wore off. The majority of rabbits needing in have had an average of two homes before the latest owner contacts us to help them place the rabbit. Rabbits and other pets adopted from us go to people who are prepared to keep them for their entire lifetime, not just a few months. Click here to view our adoption policies.
Here are the unwanted rabbit statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my rabbit" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 75
Total number of unwanted rabbits from those calls since 1/1/2011= 265 (There are at least 100 rabbits currently living and reproducing at a local equestrian stable, the number could be closer to 200. 100 of these rabbits have been included in the May 2011 count.)
Total number of rabbits we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of rabbits we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 2
One of these rabbits was from a school that was closing, 12 were from a rabbit sanctuary that was closing.
On 1/01/99, we began to keep official track of the unwanted rabbits we were asked to help. Total number of unwanted rabbits from 1/01/99 to 12/31/06= 3612 (That averages out to be just over 516 per year that we have been asked to take!)
Total number of rabbits we placed in 1999=26 Total number of rabbits we placed in 2000=23 Total number of rabbits placed in 2001=23 Total number of rabbits we placed in 2002=13 Total number of rabbits placed in 2003=13 Total number of rabbits placed in 2004= 23 Total number of rabbits we placed in 2005=11 Total number of rabbits we placed in 2006=8 (We were able to take 27 rabbits into the rescue in 1999, 34 rabbits in 2000 and 28 in 2001, 15 in 2002, 14 in 2003, 33 in 2004, 15 in 2005, 7 in 2006, 1 in 2009)
Here are the unwanted hamster statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my hamster" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 6
Total number of unwanted hamster from those calls since 1/1/2011= 18 (3 of these hamsters were owned by a teacher who cannot keep them now that school is closed. One of these hamsters was pregnant, any babies due are not listed.)
Total number of hamsters we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of hamsters we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2003= 21 Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2004= 19 Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2005= 3 Total number of hamsters we taken into the rescue in 2006= 7
Here are the unwanted rat statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my rat" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 18
Total number of unwanted rats from those calls since 1/1/2011= 66 (3 of these rats were owned by people who moved out of the country! 3 more were from a teacher who did not want to deal with them as school was closing for the summer.)
Total number of rats we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of rats we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 0 (Currently we have no rat foster homes! If you would like to help by providing temporary foster care, please let us know!)
Total number of rats placed in 2004= 4 Total number of rats taken into the rescue in 2004= 0 Total number of rats taken into the rescue in 2005= 0 Total number of rats taken into the rescue in 2006= 0
Here are the unwanted cavy aka guinea pig statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my cavy" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 6
Total number of unwanted cavies from those calls since 1/1/2011= 11
Total number of cavies we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of cavies we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of cavies placed in 2004= 5 Total number of cavies taken into the rescue in 2004= 7 Total number of cavies taken into rescue in 2005= 12 Total number of cavies taken into the rescue in 2006= 6
Here are the unwanted chinchilla statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my chinchilla" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 5
Total number of unwanted chinchillas from those calls since 1/1/2011= 14
Total number of chinchillas we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0 We helped one privately owned chinchilla named Dante find a new home with an adopter.
Total number of chinchillas we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of chinchillas placed in 2004= 3 Total number of chinchillas taken into the rescue in 2004= 1 Total number of chinchillas taken into the rescue in 2005= 4 Total number of chinchillas taken into the rescue in 2006= 4
Here are the unwanted "other" statistics for 2011 year so far.
"Can't keep my other" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/1/2011= 30
Total number of unwanted others from those calls since 1/1/2011= 35 (This total consisted of 11 wild rats, 2 ferrets, 4 wild cottontails, 10 adult dogs, 3 adults cats, 4 kittens, 1 squirrel)
Total number of others we have placed since 1/1/2011= 0
Total number of others we have been able to take since 1/1/2011= 1 adult cat who needed veterinary care. Sadly, she needed to be euthanized. She had an untreated spinal injury that caused the nerves to stop working.
Total number of others placed in 2004=10 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2004=10 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2005= 13 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2006= 1 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2010= 1 dog
We do not rescue or adopt out illegal exotics such as ferrets, hedgehogs, or sugar gliders. We are also unable to rescue wild rabbits, wild mice, wild rats, gophers, etc, orphaned or otherwise. Even though we do not rescue these pets and animals, we do get phone calls asking for helping with these animals so we note them here. Domestic mice, dogs and cats as well as other misc pets that we don't get many calls for are noted here as well.
Thank you for looking at these statistics and for caring what happens to rabbits and small animals. These pets are so often "forgotten" at animal shelters because people feel they are "not as important" as dogs or cats.
Copyright by Angela Carrigan 2011. Please do not use these statistics without express written permission from me. I am happy to give permission, but you must ask first. You are welcome to link to these stats without permission. If you would like to copy and use these stats in any way other than a direct link, you must ask permission. (A direct link means you link to this page, you may not cut and paste this onto your own website!)