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The Bunny Camp Newsletter is brought to you by Leeds & Bradford Hopper Group in support of The Bunny Camp Sanctuary, who kindy let it feature on Rabbit Rehome. If you have any queries regarding the newsletter, appeals or rabbits in it please contact them directly not Rabbit Rehome.
Volume 3 Number 2 – Febuary 2005Blizzards Hit The U.K.Although in the main, winters have not been too severe in recent times, in February, the U.K. was finally hit with some significant snowfalls. For house buns this is not a problem, but for bottom of the garden rabbits it is a different story altogether. The best thing to do if you have an outdoor rabbit is to put his hutch in a shed or garage to give extra protection from the weather, but if this is not possible, then make sure that they are in a sheltered spot with lots of straw to keep warm, and very importantly, check that your bun does not have a frozen water bottle. Put some insulation round the bottle, and perhaps add a drop of glycerine to help prevent freezing. Oh, and if you are a white bunny like me, keep away from the snow altogether, you will get lost! Dandy. BONNY & BLOSSOM’S STORY
Hi, my name is BONNY (on the left) and I am a Netherland Dwarf, and my sole mate is BLOSSOM and she is a Netherland/Polish cross and we were both born approx 2000. We have been re-homed twice and returned to The Bunny Camp Sanctuary because our owners got bored with us. So Sonya decided that it would be unfair to send us out again so we were put on the Sponsorship Scheme. We live in a beautiful chalet with two levels; we have a platform on the top with a window so we can see what is going on outside and underneath are our sleeping quarters. The chalet has a heater and is very comfortable. We go out to play on the patio with the other sponsored bunnies and we have some huge tubes that we run into and play games in, we are very lucky bunnies and we love our life here, if you would like to find out more about us please sponsor us. You will find a sponsorship form overleaf. Thank you with love from BONNY and BLOSSOM Bunny Camp Sanctuary Sponsor Bunny InformationFor a mere £1 per month, £12 for the year you can sponsor one of these gorgeous but poorly bunnies and help towards their ongoing veterinary care.
 This months Rabbit Welfare Association leafletMY BEAUTIFUL BOY SHAUNIBy Sonya McDonough It is with tears in my eyes and a broken heart that I write this story as my beautiful boy Shauni passed over the rainbow bridge on Thursday 6th January 2005 at the grand old age of ten. As most of you will know Shauni our house bunny was the love of our lives and lived free in our home with the dogs for all but two years of his life. Those two years were spent partially caged by choice with his bonded mate who he chose himself. They were partially caged as Bracken a wild hare needs supervising at all times when out. Shauni was the inspiration behind setting up the sanctuary he taught us so much about caring for bunnies in illness and in health. Shauni by the age of twelve months had teeth problems and needed Surgery to file all the spurs off his back teeth. He was very ill for months at a time and needed constant syringe feeding and medication however we were not prepared to give up on him and battled at times to keep him alive. When he reached three we were told he only had four teeth left in his mouth and his prognosis was poor but along with this news from the vet came an improvement in his health and he started eating very well. Apple and pellet food (NOT SOAKED- this is important to know as everyone thinks bunnies with poor teeth need their food soaking, Shauni proved this is not true and all our bunnies with teeth problems get a dry un soaked pellets which enables them to keep the few teeth they have in good order) was all he would eat but this enabled him to suddenly live a full health life.v
SHAUNI AT 4 MONTHS OLD In our house Shauni was the boss he kept all the other animals in check and if he wanted to get through somewhere and one of the dog was in the way he just gave them a look and they moved. Over his ten years he has lived with three cats Mitsie, Kizzy and Bonny, three dogs Suki a Staffordshire bull terrier, Sophie a cross Staffordshire/Jack Russell cross and Martha a cross Chihuahua/Manchester terrier, three rats, numerous guinea pigs and hundreds of bunny friends. When Shauni was seven Bracken a beautiful wild baby hare was brought into the sanctuary, she was about three weeks old and very badly injured due to an attack by a cat It took weeks to heal her wounds and in the process she became very tame which meant we were not able to release her when she was well. This was not a problem for her as she had fallen head over heals in love with the handsome Shauni (who wouldn’t) and they moved into a lovely house together they were not able to live together free range as Bracken being wild and slender could find her way into anywhere including under the floor of the house. At six months Shauni & Bracken started living together and had a great relationship and enjoyed getting up to mischief together. The lovebirds spent two years in bliss until Shauni developed a bone cyst in his left cheek which as it grew prevented him from eating and had to be removed. As the surgery was extensive and he was very unwell afterwards he moved out and became a free range bunny again, although he still spent time with Bracken when we let her out of her house.Shauni slowly recovered from his surgery but never ate on his own again apart from finely chopped apple so for the final four months of his life I syringe fed him twice a day which kept him very well until he developed a bladder stone which got stuck when being passed. This was removed just before Christmas and he went on to have a great time playing with the Christmas tree and all the presents under the tree. He would come to us for his chopped up apple especially if he could steel it off the board as it tasted better that way. 
SHAUNI HELPING HIMSELF CHRISTMAS 2005 Once New Year came it was obvious Shauni’s little body was failing despite his strong personality and will to live. He took to his bed on the 5th January and we could see he was in severe discomfort but his will to live overpowered everything so we decided on the 6th January to let him go over the rainbow bridge with all the other bunnies. He was the love of our life and had gifted us with ten wonderful years and we will never forget the gift he gave us “bunnies are more than just furry little four legged creatures kept in cages at the bottom of the garden, they are intelligent little people that understand more than we will ever know” 
OUR LITTLE ANGEL AT 5 YEARS OLD SLEEP PEACEFULLY LITTLE MAN YOUR INSPIRATION WILL LIVE ON Bunny Camp News Recipe ColumnBy Bramblespack Well this month we though we would look at Chocolate cake. A lot of 2foots like chocolate and this dark chocolate cake according to the 2foots is very nice. Although they do say it is very rich and heavy (We didn’t think food had any money). Anyway we hope you enjoy it and remember get your 2foots to do all the bits you don’t want to do. Dark Chocolate CakeWhat you need
Other stuff that you need
Stuff to put on top of the cake
Finally What to do Get 2foots to eat the cake. As you can tell we couldn’t be bothered to do anything really strenuous this month. Enjoy. Blackberry (The pack) p.s. No buns were harmed in the making of this column 
Pigeon adopts baby rabbits
11/11/2004 08:45 - (SA) By Rusana Philander Cape Town - A pigeon at the Karmanel party farm at Joostenberg Vlakte near Kraaifontein is the proud "mother" of seven rabbits. The pigeon recently took the rabbits under her wing when the two rabbit mothers neglected their babies. Amanda Nel, owner of Karmanel, said the pigeon has been keeping the rabbits warm for the past three weeks. "The pigeon 'moved in' with them after the rabbits were born. The rabbits and pigeon live in the same cage. "Rabbits do not make good mothers and the pigeon took over this task from the rabbits. I think she believes the baby rabbits are her own." Nel said it was quite possible because the rabbits and pigeon have been living together "in harmony" for the past few years. "It is incredible to see how these two species have formed a tight family unit. Because of the pigeon mother, the rabbits will grow up because she looks after them all the time. The strong bond between the rabbits and pigeon cannot be broken. "The pigeon has become a mother to the seven rabbits and protects them as if they are her own. She never lets them out of her sight." Two bird experts said it was the first time they heard of a bird adopting rabbits. Hilton Pillay, a bird expert of Strandfontein, attributed this behaviour to the mothering instinct of the pigeon. "Because it is breeding season for birds, they are reacting to this instinct." Doug Harebottle of the unit for bird demographics at the University of Cape Town said some rabbits neglected their young, but this particular situation was exceptional particularly because rabbits are mammals. 
CALLING ALL READERS & HOPPER CLUB MEMBERSHappy New Year to you all. Another year at Bunny Camp Sanctuary which means more fundraising, on that theme I was wondering if Bunny Camp News readers the members of Hopper Club could organise a sponsored walk,
Oh no!! not a sponsored walk but wait, if a group of you could ask your individual family, friends, colleagues and maybe the
postman….. Bunny Humour
The Barbara Peters Page
After the snow of recent days, it may come as a surprise, but if you look very carefully, you will see that many wild plants are showing signs of bursting into life for spring. I often like to remind other bunny slaves that the simplest of things can be a great source of free food, and that you should take advantage of nature’s bounty. The simplest thing of all is grass. Your buns will really appreciate a handful of fresh grass, particularly if they spend most of their time indoors. As I look out of the kitchen window, I can see that the grass needs cutting, so my next job is to go outside and gather some up for my buns. The one thing you should never do though is give your buns mown grass. This is because the lawnmower cuts up the grass into such tiny pieces that it starts to ferment almost immediately, which is very dangerous for your rabbit’s digestion. Remember to look out for things like plantain (shown above) and of course the ever popular dandelions as well as newly emerging thistles. Finally, if you have a herb patch, take a look at it, I have a FABULOUS crop of flat leaved parsley. 
Hi everybody, your editor Dandy here again. First of all thank you for all of your messages complementing me on my new look for Bunny Camp News. Granted I had to write most of them myself, but it’s still nice to read them. We have a new agony bun this month. As regular readers will know, my darling Flopsy Girl went to the rainbow bridge last month, but as I am a very generous bun, I have allowed Millie to have a go at giving some advice this time. She is very much on trial, and if she does not do a good job I will sack her, so please let me know what you think of her efforts. Finally, I would just like to remind all of you 2-foots out there to remember that your sole purpose in life is to look after us buns and to ensure that we have nothing but the best at all times! Bun of the month
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Millie Bun’s Problem Pages