Rabbit Rescue Gets $70k In Vic Govt Grants

[VizslaMomma]

Cool! Does Victoria also have shelters for cockroaches, field mice, and rats?

Sure it does.

It's the State House of Parliament, both upper and lower chambers.

[Little Gifts]

Without a rescue group/shelter for domestic rabbits owners would probably just release them into the wild where they will do more habitat damage and be at risk of hideous deaths. If this rescue group ticks all the boxes then I have no problem with them getting money because even incorporated rescue groups have so few funding options for big ticket items.

On the other hand we have the RSPCA who gets federal and state funding for their core business, has public fundraising down to a tee AND regularly gets monies through things like the Gambling Fund here in QLD. They are dipping into every pot of money they can nationally and still don't seem to be meeting public expectation in regards to cruelty matters.

As I've said before, if the RSPCA were fulfilling their all creatures great and small mandate then we would not even need an independent rabbit rescue group. So I'm not going to begrudge a rescue group, who is probably running on the smell of an oily rag, receiving money they desperately need to care for their charges. There will be an accountability process for it. How else would they raise it?

Just edited to add that grants need to be applied for so different orgs will ask for different amounts of money. What you want to spend money on has to meet funding guidelines. For example it might be for infrastructure only. You also have to prove you spent the money on what you applied for (or seek a change of purpose) at the end of the relevant financial year. You can't just ask for $50,000 and spend it on what you want. And you would be stupid to guesstimate how much money to apply for if you were undertaking a big project. They would need to get quotes. Some orgs might also need to use some of their own savings to complete a larger project. For example you get funding to build a building but none to buy equipment or furniture to use in it. That would need to come from another funding source, perhaps your own savings.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Little Gifts

[Katdogs]

Now that is some serious grant application skills in action. Wow just wow.

Yep. I do wish I had that skill. There are (at elections usually) so many community grants to apply for, if you know how.

[Maddy]

I would have thought a rabbit rescue would be seen as good thing as I know in my local area if people can't get rid of their rabbits via the paper and what not they release them into the wild. At least by going to a rescue the likelyhood of some rabbits being desexed and not contributing to the wild numbers is less.

--Lhok

Domestic rabbits generally don't survive any longer than 24 hours in the wild. Not only are they poorly equipped in physical terms*, they lack the behaviours that make feral rabbits successful.

*Just using mini lops as an example.. Lopped ears (which impacts hearing and ability to cool), colours besides agouti (in particular REWs, as they have poor eyesight), a short cobby body (not well suited to evading fast/agile predators) and no genetic immunity to myxo.

People who set their rabbits "free" are, in reality, condemning that rabbit to a swift death.