The place is certainly looking better after all the work that went into tidyng before the Fayre. Lots of rubbish went to the tip and all the old smaller hutches that we were no longer using have been moved, except a few that we are using as cupboards.That of course is all that a small hutch is fit for. I am continually saddenned by the small hutches that pet shops persist in selling even after the Animal Welfare Act. People would not consider keeping a cat in one of them but for some reason many people think that because the pet shops sell them as Rabbit Hutches it must be alright. Pet shops are shops. They want your money. They do not care or know much about the needs of the animals they so callously send off to live lives of misery:( The latest ridiculous thing I heard is that Pets @ Home are telling people that House Rabbits must be walked on a lead for an hour twice a day!! Meaning of course that they call a rabbit a house rabbit when it lives in a small cage (so convieniently sized to fit in your car to enable you to make a snap descision without doing any research), and to guide you to purchase a rabbit lead, from them of course, with which to torture your poor rabbit. I could go on and on....

We haven't been able to take in any more rabbits since October, although we have accepted a few guinea pigs. We are getting staggering numbers of calls asking us to - Last month we were asked to take 30 rabbits from 6 different people in half a hour. Our phone number is being given out by the RSPCA in Birmingham and there is simply no way we can help them all, or even any at the moment as rehoming has hit rock bottom, with only one rabbit finding a new home last month. Our numbers stand at 133 rabbits and 63 guinea pigs, which is still too high. At this time of year there literally isn't enough time in a day to do everything. I have found myself feeding in the dark a few times this week after struggling to get the hutches rebedded in time after they have been cleaned. But at least Dave has now put a light in the Conservatory for us so the cages in there can be cleaned after dark. And of course those in the barn can be done at night too. The result - I am often cleaning hutches and stables and cages until 11pm:~

Sadly rehoming has now become more difficult as we have lost a home checker who covered a large portion of our area for both rabbits and guinea pigs. We are going to struggle to get homechecks done for a while, and may have to alter the area we can cover. It is quite a set back.

More positively we now have two new trustees, Jennifer and Caroline, who I am sure are going to be an enormous help. Thankyou both for taking on the role.Amongst other things Jennnifer will take on secretarial tasks and Caroline is going to coordinate homechecks.

Another positive hoppening is that Hopper Haven is being given a car. I have been without transport for most of the year which has made things very difficult. Volunteers have been great doing the vet transport for me, but it hasn't always been easy. I thought I had two animals stranded at the vet's tonight when a volunteer didn't come, but we managed to get Erin to rescue them. So the generous offer from John and Sue to give us their old car is most welcome and helpful. Thankyou both so much.

Progress on the treatment room has taken another step forward with the laying of the new flooring to replace the bare concrete covered only in part by an offcut of vinyl that we had before. The new floor will be much easier to keep clean. Many thanks to Roger and Jennifer for laying it.

This is the last month of the first four years in the journey of Hopper Haven. Things have not been easy and there have been many challenges along the way, but we have come through them, and will continue to do so with the help of our supporters. We have taken in 411 guinea pigs and 541 rabbits since Jan 2006. Hopefully in the future we will help many more animals.

Sunday was another working Sunday. This month the task was to get the covers and bubblewrap on the hutches to make them ready for the cold weather. The weather was perfect, the hutches were dry and ready to be worked on. The hardest part was working out which cover went with which hutch:~ We had lots of staple guns going and Caroline had cleverly packaged the covers with the bubblewrap that came off with them last year so the covers went on quickly. Half got done in the one afternoon - that is 22 covers. Not bad going. Many thanks to everyone who came and helped. Many of the covers left to go on are new. They arrived in time but the bubblewrap I ordered to go under them didn't:~ There wouldn't have been time to do them even if it had arrived so it didn't matter. It arrived at 8am the following morning of course.

The last working Sunday had to be canceled after my grandmother died:( The one before that was very successful. All the posts for the last section of fencing were put up, and a large part of the garden was cleared. Caroline followed up by getting all the wire up so that our resident wolf, Niko, now has full run of the garden to do his bit as fox deterrent. I feel much better now that his scent is everywhere. He is being very well behaved too and all the rabbits are used to him being nosy about what they are up to. A year ago I wouldn't have thought letting him loose would ever be an option. I'm glad to have been proved wrong.

Our calendars are now printed and ready. They have really turned out well. I'm pleased that Catherine convinced me that it was worth going ahead with. I was worried in case they didn't sell and we ended up losing money instead of making some. But with the way it looks and the sponsorship she and Debbie obtained, I think we are bound to raise some money from them. Much needed money too, we have paid out lots of money lately and not so much is coming in. Our vets bill will be here soon and it will be well over a thousand pounds as there have been quite a few big ops lately:( Yesterday Maya had her left ear re-sectioned due to an abcess. She is doing well thankfully. Two others (Daffodil and Mortimer) had the prodedure done last year and it helped them alot.

As well as calendars we now have Hopper Haven polo shirts. The logo turned out really well, it is embroidered onto purple polo shirts. We also have our own Christmas cards to sell again this year. Our upcoming Winter Fayre will hopefully see lots of these and our other bits and pieces sell well.

There is still lots of work to do before the Fayre. I really want the last run just outside the barn finished. It will look so much better once that is complete and occupied. There is lots of cleaning to be done too, and rubbish to dispose of. The old hutches we no longer use need to be moved, and the general clutter tidied away. It would have been nice to have the treatment room started but sadly we have not been able to get the plumber in to start it off and now have had to put all the cages back in to accomodate half term boarders so it will have to wait until after the Fayre if not until next year:(

Today saw more of the guinea pigs moved inside for the winter. They can not tolerate our cold damp climate and need to be well under cover from now until the ground dries out a bit in the spring. We now only have two groups and three single males left outside. They can come in once the boarders go home, for now they are well wrapped up.

My hopes of reducing our numbers to a target of 120 rabbits and 60 guinea pigs have fallen by the wayside yet again:( Last weekend saw the arrival of 15 rabbits and 9 guinea pigs. Then another rabbit and a pair of guinea pigs were returned. We now have 140 rabbits and 67 guinea pigs. Luckily the new arrivals included two litters of baby rabbits which will be able to go off to foster homes until they are old enough to neuter. We already have some babies in foster homes that are old enough to neuter, but for some reason the vets are too busy to book us any neutering until the week after next:( We have a bit of a back log and no female rabbits ready to rehome, despite several prospective homes being offered:( Hopefully I'll be able to book some neutering at the end of this week when next months rota is available.

We have lots of guinea pigs available again after almost entirely running out at the end of the summer. All we had then were possibly pregnant females, babies and unneutered males (apart form the longterm residents of course). Now we have lots of pairs, neutered males and even a few extra females ready for new homes. We also have lots of male rabbits ready to find their new partners. In a months time we should have does ready too.