HRS 2017 Educators Conference in San Diego Growing Your Knowledge of Rabbit Care and Welfare
The House Rabbit Society held their second triennial Educators Conference, hosted by the San Diego Chapter. You can contact the San Diego Chapter here:
NOTE: The youtube videos & texts below are spread across a number of pages that you can find on the HRS Educator Conference pages. Please visit the HRS pages for more rabbit info. This index page is done independently and with no affiliation with HRS and is only for ease of use referencing the excellent material. Audio clips are from RRI.
Recruiting, Training, and Retaining a Solid Volunteer Corps - Kimberly Elman
Community Outreach – Activities, Events, Strategies and Publicity - Joy Gioia & Patricia Mulcahy
Rabbit Health: Newest Treatment Protocols & Time Tested Effective Ones plus Current Thoughts on E. Cuniculi - Bill Guerrera, DVM
Emergency Rabbit Confiscations: How to Quickly Mobilize an Effective Rescue Response: Case Studies - Dawn Sailer
Rabbit Agility and Clicker Training - Allison Giese
Thank you for coming - Margo DeMello, Anne Martin & Marinell Harriman
Day 1 - Saturday October 21, 2017
Welcome & Conference Information
Margo DeMello & Anne Martin: Welcome & Conference Information – Opening the World to Rabbits. 7:45AM - 8:15AM
Staying Strong in Animal Rescue
Debbie Widolf [HRS educator/fosterer]: Maintaining one’s strength in animal rescue work can present us with challenges that sometimes stretch us to our very limits even though this work comes from compassion, love and a compelling desire to help animals in need. During this session a collection of ideas, strategies and stories will be shared to help the rescuer continue the important work while also caring for ourselves and working thoughtfully with others. Some talking points include: Who am I in rescue, keeping your eye on the prize, I don’t like people or the perception of others, finding joy, bringing your best self and finding the 'collateral beauty'” after loss. It is the belief of this speaker that exploring ways to stay strong in rescue work is key to continuing this work born out of love. 8:15AM - 9:15AM
Partnering With Animal Shelters & Humane Societies: Advocating For Rabbits in a Cat/Dog World. Adopters Welcome.
Suzanne D’Alonzo [VP of Community Programs & Strategic Initiatives for Humane Society of Charlotte] and Anne Martin, PhD [Executive Director international HRS]: Sponsored by Small Pet Select - How can we get more rabbits adopted? Suzanne D’Alonzo, Vice President of Community Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the Humane Society of Charlotte, will present an adopters welcome approach to adoptions, which has been embraced by many shelters and rescues. This proven approach helps bring more people to adopt, and prevents adopters from getting discouraged during the adoption process. And more rabbits adopted into loving homes means more rabbits can be rescued! Anne Martin, HRS Executive Director, will present several special adoption promotions that have worked at HRS headquarters to stimulate more rabbit adoptions. 9:20AM - 10:10AM
Preventing and Dealing with Aggressive Rabbits
Joy Gioia [President & chapter manager of Missouri – St. Louis HRS]: Sponsored by PetSmart Charities. Joy gets 1st PetSmart's rabbit 'Hope' plushie award. Working with Aggressive Rabbits - Preventing aggression in a rabbit can be accomplished through utilizing very simple and logical care and handling methods, but that simple logic isn’t necessarily intuitive thanks to all of the incorrect information that the public has heard over the years. Much of what the public has heard about rabbits can actually cause a rabbit to become aggressive in a frightening number of ways. Join us to learn the steps to deter rabbits from becoming aggressive, and to gain some ideas for how to respond to a rabbit that has become aggressive. 10:25AM - 11:55AM
Helping the Public Keep Their Rabbits at Home Chriss Starr: There are many reasons why rabbits are surrendered or returned to rescue groups. How can we reduce the phenomenon of returns, while at the same time helping reconcile rabbits and their human caregivers? This talk will discuss ways in which rescuers can repair these broken relationships through both hands-on and educational services with the aim of strengthening the human/animal bond and creating a better life for rabbits. 12:00PM - 12:30PM
The Rabbits of Ōkunoshima (大久野島): Rewilding the Domestic or Domesticating the Wild?
Margo DeMello, PhD [HRS President] and Kotoyo Hoshina, PhD [HRS educator] & Koushi (Kanae) Takahashi, CVT [HRS educator]: Ōkunoshima Island, located in the Hiroshima Prefecture in southern Japan, has been host to a large population of feral rabbits since at least the 1970s, if not before. The rabbits of the island have limited access to vegetation and water, and thus rely on the tourists who feed them; the number of tourists has radically increased since 2006, and with that, the number of rabbits has increased as well, to a current estimated population of 1000. These rabbits display a fascinating combination of wild and domesticated traits, and the level of 'wildness' or 'tameness' differs based on where on the island the rabbits live. The presenters ethnographic research focuses on the rabbits of Ōkunoshima, and addresses their behavior and how they have been transformed by their liminal—and precarious—position and their relationships with the humans who, to some extent, shape their lives. Because they are both cared for, and threatened, by humans, the rabbits have developed a number of unique behaviors which would be of great interest to both domesticated and wild rabbit researchers. 12:30PM - 1:40PM
Creating Successful Rescue-Veterinarian Partnerships. Carmine Bausone, DVM [Medical Director, VCA Acacia Animal Hospital and Pet Resort, and Director of the Integrative and Holistic Medicine department]: Having an exotic animal hospital partner with your rescue is a definite bonus as it offers your group the opportunity to get quality veterinary care at a discount. It’s not only a benefit to you; your veterinarian will benefit as well. Carmine Bausone, DVM, medical director and part owner of VCA Acacia Animal Hospital in Escondido, California, will discuss ways to partner with vet hospitals and how to create partnerships that run smoothly and are beneficial to both the rescue and the vet. VCA Acacia not only partners with San Diego HRS, they support local shelters and several other animal rescues in the region. 1:40PM - 2:20PM
Fundraising and Using Social Media to Help Rabbits Anne Martin, PhD [Executive Director international HRS] and Sandy Parshall [Program Manager & educator for HRS]: Sponsored by Supreme Petfoods - Do you need money to help rabbits? Get your rabbit rescue fundraising to the next level with tips and new ideas with Anne Martin, HRS Executive Director and Sandy Parshall, HRS Program Manager. We’ll cover choosing and managing a donor database, corporate matching programs, developing relationships with businesses, ideas for fundraising projects, donor/giving trends, and social media best practices. And all focused on rabbits, with proven strategies that have worked for House Rabbit Society. 2:25PM - 3:25PM
The Vet Doesn’t Open Until 8AM and OH NO! There’s a Problem! Linda J. Siperstein, DVM (“Dr. Sip”) [Avian and Exotics Veterinarian, Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital]: Sponsored by Sherwood Pet Health - What rabbit caretakers can do before the doctor is in. - When there’s a problem with a pet rabbit, getting to a rabbit-savvy vet is a priority. But depending on where owners and caretakers live, there might be a gap between recognition of illness or injury, and the ability to get to an open medical facility. In this lecture, Dr. Siperstein will discuss the good and not so good ideas for getting through that difficult window until you can seek professional veterinary care. 3:40PM - 4:40PM
The Golden Years: Caring For the Geriatric Rabbit Linda Knox, DVM [Veterinarian/Owner, Palomar Animal Hospital]: This class will be a discussion about the primary health concerns in the aging rabbit. Topics to be included are dental disease, Encephalitozoonosis, urinary tract issues, cardiovascular disease, neoplasia and arthritis. 4:45PM - 5:30PM
Growing Your Organization: Anyone Can do it! Joy Gioia [President & chapter manager of Missouri – St. Louis HRS] & Edie Sayeg: Growing House Rabbit Society chapters, or other rabbit rescue organizations, are vital to helping rabbits. The more a group grows, the more experience a group has, the more volunteers and supporters a chapter or other organization gains, and the more the group thrives. When that happens, more rabbits can be helped and the more the public can learn the truth about rabbits as wonderful, indoor animal companions. You don’t have to be a chapter manager or even nonprofit manager to help your group grow. This class is for all volunteers who want to help their organizations expand and succeed.
Day 2 - Sunday October 22, 2017
Recruiting, Training, and Retaining a Solid Volunteer Corps Kimberly Elman [Manages Best Friends Animal Society’s national outreach volunteer department]: Organizations that are great at saving lives are also great at effectively engaging volunteers. This session will review successful ways to recruit, train, and retain volunteers, providing a framework that helps build effective, sustainable and comprehensive volunteer engagement programs. You’ll learn about best practices in volunteer program development to take your volunteer programs to a new level. 7:15AM - 8:15 AM
Community Outreach – Activities, Events, Strategies and Publicity Joy Gioia [President & chapter manager of Missouri – St. Louis HRS] & Patricia Mulcahy [Treasurer & Co-Chapter Manager of San Diego HRS]: Getting the word out: That’s the push behind community outreach and it can be done in a variety of ways from serious education, to fun events, to community-based initiatives. Community outreach can help with adoptions, can help people learn more about rabbits, and can aid in fundraising. Come participate and gain ideas to get your educational efforts accepted in the community. Outreach goes a long way towards helping bunnies! 8:20AM - 9:20AM
Rabbit Health: Newest Treatment Protocols & Time Tested Effective Ones plus Current Thoughts on E. Cuniculi Bill Guerrera, DVM [Medical Director, Bloomfield Veterinary Hospital]: Sponsored by Oxbow Animal Health - One of the most exciting elements of veterinary medicine is its dynamic nature. Our constant quest for knowledge continually feeds the desire to find more effective and safer treatments for pet rabbits. Increased access to advanced diagnostics helps provide answers that were previously unknown. In this lecture we will focus on these new methods, including current thoughts on diagnosing an treating Encephalitozoon cuniculi (EC), in addition to treatments that have stood the test of time. 9:35AM - 11:05AM
Emergency Rabbit Confiscations: How to Quickly Mobilize an Effective Rescue Response: Case Studies Dawn Sailer [Founded Indiana HRS in 2001, HRS Board Director, Chair for the HRS Emergency Committee, and Educator for Indiana HRS]: Sponsored by Leith Petwerks - To effectively manage an unplanned influx of rabbits, whether small or large numbers, it is critical to have an Emergency Preparedness plan. This talk will focus on five case studies that have saved 1000+ rabbits. Each case study will illustrate the importance of one part of an effective plan: capturing and managing feral domestic rabbit colonies; media relations; volunteers providing hands on (shelter) care/medical triage; rabbit-savvy veterinary care and high volume spay/neuter; and extensive relationship building, networking and rescue transfers. 11:10AM - 12:00PM
Rabbit Agility and Clicker Training Allison Giese [San Diego HRS volunteer & Founded SDHRS’s Rabbit Agility Club]: There are several benefits of rabbit agility. Not only is it a way to give your rabbit physical and mental exercise, but it can help strengthen the human-rabbit bond. It can also be used as a tool for demonstrating to the public how intelligent rabbits are. In this class, the basics of clicker-training will be discussed, as well as information on building your own agility course, and starting up an agility club. The presentation will also include a live agility demonstration. 2:10PM - 3:00PM
Closing & Thank You
Margo DeMello, & Marinell Harriman : Thank you for coming. 3:15PM - 3:20PM