Fostering animals is not necessarily the easiest gig in the world. Spending a few months with Flopsy the dog and then having to say goodbye when she finds her forever home can be heart-wrenching to say the least. Still, fostering is a huge help to the animals. And now, a certain woman in Grand Junction, Colorado is taking things to a new level. Not only is she willing to say goodbye to her fosters, she plans on doing all she can to push them (lovingly) out the door!
Tabatha Savage has been a friend to rabbits for a long time. In addition to doing rescue work in her own neighborhood, she has helped Best Friends for years with adoption events in Colorado. She even adopted a Best Friends rabbit a little while back. Lately, though, she has wanted to do more, but couldn’t think what else to do.
Then it hit her. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it before. She could foster some rabbits from Best Friends, but at the same time give them all the publicity they needed in her hometown.
Best Friends is located in beautiful country indeed. Situated at the heart of the national parks of the Southwest, the area draws people from around the world. The only downer (at least when it comes to adoption) is there are not a lot of large cities nearby to hold adoption events.
True, Vegas isn’t too far, as are some other big cities if you’re willing to drive a few hours. That works great for the dogs and cats, but rabbits have a much harder time on the road trips. They tend to get pretty stressed out with regular travel and, as such, end up missing a lot of the bigger adoption events.
Well, it just so happens that Tabatha lives where such events are a whole lot easier to attend. Her idea was to bring a couple of Best Friends’ rabbits to her town, where she can promote them locally. Debby Widolf, bunny manager at Best Friends, loved the idea.
Tabatha and Debby picked two rabbits at the sanctuary, Ashley and Winona, as the first two bunnies she will foster. Tabatha says they are settling in perfectly and have already been making some rounds in the area. She brought them to a recent adoption event riding in a stroller and they were quite the hit! Winona and Ashley were originally found wandering alongside a busy highway before coming to Best Friends. They’re due for a lucky break.
In Grand Junction, Tabatha plans to send out posters and fliers and do anything else she can think of to put word on the street. In the meantime, she’s already working on clicker training Ashley and Winona to increase their chances at adoption. Once she finds them a home, Tabatha will head straight back to Best Friends for her next fosters.
No doubt, Tabatha means business. She plans to have a T-shirt made that says, "Best Friends Foster Mom!" Say it loud, say it proud! Thanks, Tabatha, for all you do.
Story by David Dickson
Photo by Gary Kalpakoff
Like Tabatha, you can provide this life-saving service for homeless animals. Become a foster parent.
And Ashley and Winona are just two of many Best Friends Adorable Adoptable rabbits.
