Blaine CBP volunteers lend a day of service to rabbit rescue

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Some members of the Blaine community spent their Martin Luther King Jr. Day helping a new rabbit rescue and adoption nonprofit.

About a dozen U.S. CBP office employees and their families spent four hours cleaning and organizing Bunanza Rabbit Rescue Ranch and Adoption Center at its adoption center in Lynden.

“It was fantastic,” said Liz Gillette, founder of the nonprofit and president of its board of directors. “They are such hard workers who were so cheerful and flexible.”

The group pressure washed every cage, let the rabbits out for fresh air, reorganized the cleaned cages and cleaned all the shelves, crates and kennels, Gillette said. One of the volunteers even made toys out of toilet paper tubes for the rabbits, which Gillette said would keep them entertained for hours.

“They got a lot done in four hours,” she said.

Gillette unofficially started rescuing rabbits five years ago when people reached out to her about abandoned domestic or feral rabbits they had found. Rabbits are often abandoned because they become more aggressive  as they age if they are not spayed or neutered, she said. After she continued to get more rabbits, she started contacting other rabbit rescue organizations across the U.S. to learn how they operated.

Bunanza became a nonprofit at the end of 2019 but didn’t officially open until March 2020. In addition to the Lynden adoption center, a separate rescue ranch in Custer houses rabbits needing ongoing care.

Despite opening during a pandemic, Gillette said they adopted out 114 rabbits last year and have already another 18 in 2021. Rescued and adopted rabbit breeds include Holland Lops, Mini-Lops, Angora and Lionhead, among others.

The nonprofit has two dozen volunteers and fosters to help rabbits that need socialization or are recovering from an illness or injury. Gillette said people bring abandoned rabbits from as far away as Spokane and Yakima while people have come from south of Seattle to adopt the rabbits.

“We could always use more volunteers,” Gillette said. “There’s always more things we could get done.”

People are welcome, by appointment, to visit the bunnies, Gillette said. The nonprofit will educate people on how to be a successful rabbit owner so hopefully less people abandon their pets. All equipment is donated, and all donations and adoption fees pay for the rabbits to be spayed and neutered.

Bunanza Rabbit Rescue Ranch and Adoption Center publishes updates on its rabbits on its Facebook page, facebook.com/bunanzarabbit.

For more information, call 360/224-1886 or email bunanzarabbit@gmail.com.

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