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Circe and Zeus - Bunnies

(From Laura, a volunteer with TAS-South's small domestics) Circe has not had an easy life. I first met her in the back room at the shelter, where she was standing guard over her seven newborn kits, skinny and scared out of her mind.



She'd been abandoned to the wild when she got pregnant, and had given birth underneath a porch. After spending a week begging for food from neighbours, TAS was called in and the family was taken to the shelter. She was very underweight, but somehow she had managed to keep all seven of her kits fat and healthy and safe.



I took the group home for foster so that she could raise her little ones in a safe place. She was shy, but gentle, and we managed to become friends over the next few months. Once they were old enough, they all got fixed and headed back to the shelter.

The others were slowly adopted, until Circe was left along with the runt of the litter, her son Zeus. Zeus had always been the shyest of the litter, and very attached to his mom. By the time they were the last ones left, it was clear they would have to go as a pair.



Finally, they were adopted. I thought that was the end of it, until last month, when a very familiar looking pair showed up in the room. Zeus was huge now, but Circe recognized me and ran up to greet me the same way she always had. It turned out that they had been returned, after six months. The person who adopted them had not been able to care properly for herself, let alone two rabbits. When the owner got to the point where personal problems were too much, Circe and Zeus found themselves back at the shelter.

I can't imagine how Circe felt, scared and protecting her son in the shelter again, right back where she started. She remains a sweet, gentle, quiet girl, while Zeus remains a big wimp. Unsurprisingly, he is incredibly attached to his mom - she has, after all, been the only constant in his young life. He still tries to hide underneath her, despite being bigger than her (you can see him trying to hide behind her in some of the photos, he's the black/grey one).





Zeus gets extremely anxious when he can't see her, so they can never be separated. Both are easy to handle, and while they're shy, they're very gentle and enjoy being petted and brushed.

A bonded pair is never easy to adopt out, especially when they're large and shy. They're too big for cages so they will need to live free-range or in an xpen.

Circe and Zeus are probably going to sit in the shelter for months again, but hopefully by spreading the word, we can help prevent that. I really love these two and honestly, if I didn't already have a pair, I would take them home myself.

Friday, July 6, 2012 · [Print]

3 Comments to “Circe and Zeus - Bunnies”

  1. Kit Lang says:
    July 6, 2012 at 3:37 PM

    Oh, they're so sweet! I've never had bunnies (and frankly, don't have room for them - I think we're almost/at the legal limit for pets with 3 cats and a dog, not to mention our four aquariums); but they look really lovely.

    I'll spread the word on my FB. :)

  2. MKlwr says:
    July 6, 2012 at 9:59 PM

    They just melt your heart! Not sure what the cats would think of rabbits, though. Not that I know the first thing about them, anyway.

  3. Anonymous says:
    July 7, 2012 at 12:46 PM

    O.M.G. There is NOTHING cuter than a baby bunny! maybe if they weren't so cute, there wouldn't be so many abandoned after the spring break.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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