Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Beyond Rabbit Shows
Being involved with rabbits can provide opportunities and experiences beyond your own barn and even beyond rabbit shows. I just updated a webpage for Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers. Several volunteers from the club staffed "Bunny Day" for the City of Greensboro, NC. You can see from the pictures that Bunny Day was a wonderful event for the families that attended.
Other rabbit breeders have had the opportunity to conduct workshops or demonstrations at summer camps and day camps. Some families' lives do not include pets. Interacting with rabbits may be a rare experience for some children. Or maybe it will be the seed that sprouts into a full-blown rabbit enthusiasm at some point!
Soon, I will be talking with groups of 7th graders about rabbit genetics. My rabbits and I will visit a middle school in a nearby town next Wednesday. We'll be discussing how genetics plays an important part in breeding towards a standard of perfection. And I'll talk about the pattern gene, dwarfing gene, and wool gene, in particular. I'm brushing up on my heterozygous, phenotype, Punnet square terminology! We'll model what happens genetically during a breeding, with students playing the part of genes. I was thinking I should pick a student with long hair for the wool gene and short for the normal fur. What do you think?
The Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers also staffs an educational display at the Greensboro Fair in September. Many, many educational pamphlets are distributed and volunteers answer questions all week. I know that many clubs do something similar.
I would love to see more clubs put on educational events about rabbits during the weeks just before Easter. Everyone is a rabbit person at Easter, but for some, it's a temporary thing. We could do a lot to raise the awareness of what it really means to be a rabbit owner. And we could help future rabbit owners avoid ill-advised and even deadly practices with their rabbits.
And, a small percentage of those attending might just decide to join our hobby. How many of you started in rabbits with the sole idea that you would breed according to the standard to show your rabbits? I'm sure some did. But many others started by buying pets or visiting a show with a friend or accidentally bumping into "showing" some other way.
People cannot join a hobby they do not know about.
So reach out beyond your barn. Maybe you'll provide an enjoyable day for a family. Perhaps you will spark some interest in rabbits. Maybe you'll save the life of a future pet rabbit. You could make some topic come alive to a group of students. And maybe you'll increase the interest in our hobby and help keep it robust for another generation.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 11:03 AM
Other rabbit breeders have had the opportunity to conduct workshops or demonstrations at summer camps and day camps. Some families' lives do not include pets. Interacting with rabbits may be a rare experience for some children. Or maybe it will be the seed that sprouts into a full-blown rabbit enthusiasm at some point!
Soon, I will be talking with groups of 7th graders about rabbit genetics. My rabbits and I will visit a middle school in a nearby town next Wednesday. We'll be discussing how genetics plays an important part in breeding towards a standard of perfection. And I'll talk about the pattern gene, dwarfing gene, and wool gene, in particular. I'm brushing up on my heterozygous, phenotype, Punnet square terminology! We'll model what happens genetically during a breeding, with students playing the part of genes. I was thinking I should pick a student with long hair for the wool gene and short for the normal fur. What do you think?
The Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers also staffs an educational display at the Greensboro Fair in September. Many, many educational pamphlets are distributed and volunteers answer questions all week. I know that many clubs do something similar.
I would love to see more clubs put on educational events about rabbits during the weeks just before Easter. Everyone is a rabbit person at Easter, but for some, it's a temporary thing. We could do a lot to raise the awareness of what it really means to be a rabbit owner. And we could help future rabbit owners avoid ill-advised and even deadly practices with their rabbits.
And, a small percentage of those attending might just decide to join our hobby. How many of you started in rabbits with the sole idea that you would breed according to the standard to show your rabbits? I'm sure some did. But many others started by buying pets or visiting a show with a friend or accidentally bumping into "showing" some other way.
People cannot join a hobby they do not know about.
So reach out beyond your barn. Maybe you'll provide an enjoyable day for a family. Perhaps you will spark some interest in rabbits. Maybe you'll save the life of a future pet rabbit. You could make some topic come alive to a group of students. And maybe you'll increase the interest in our hobby and help keep it robust for another generation.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 11:03 AM
