Nicole Evans-Estenson and Tiffany Wogahn started the Hoppy House Rabbit Rescue in 2019. The two friends bonded over their love of animals.
Lucy the rabbit was left outside, unprotected in summer heat and winter snow before coming to the Hoppy House Rabbit Rescue.
Lucy the rabbit arrived in Chippewa Falls almost a month ago.
Nicole Evans-Estenson and Tiffany Wogahn started the Hoppy House Rabbit Rescue in 2019. The two friends bonded over their love of animals.
They decided that they wanted to help rescue pet rabbits. That meant providing a safe space for unwanted pets and providing care for those whose owners could no longer take care of them.
They got to work, setting up a rabbit foster care system. While the long-term goal is to find these rabbits a forever home, the short-term goal is simply to find them an accommodating and nurturing place to feel safe and cared for.
“So we are both animal lovers. We met through rabbits. We both had rabbits for quite a few years prior to Hoppy House. It started with the Chippewa Humane Society, (which) had several rabbits in their care. Most animal shelters are not equipped for rabbit care. They do fantastic with cats and dogs but you know, exotic pets are a little more difficult,” Evans-Estenson said.
Evans-Estenson fostered a rabbit named Yosemite, and Wogahn fostered a rabbit named Juniper.
“I thought, ‘Hey, let’s do this, because there’s a lot of animals, you know, a lot of pets out there that need homes,’” Evans-Estenson said. “I remember thinking I had found a kindred spirit in Tiffany. We both wanted to make a difference.”
Wogahn said they both were doing the work and decided one day to make it official.
“I said, ‘Let’s start an organization. Let’s do this officially,’” Wogahn said.
“I remember Nicole saying, ‘Should we just start a rescue?’ And I was like, ‘We are kind of doing what rescues do,’” Wogahn said.
Now, four years later, the two have helped save nearly 50 rabbits.
Lucy the rabbit arrived in Chippewa Falls almost a month ago. Lucy had been braving the elements but not by choice. She was left outside, unprotected in summer heat and winter snow for quite awhile.
The women get a lot of referrals from Buffalo and Pepin counties. Lucy was one such rabbit.
“Their county animal shelter isn’t set up for rabbit care. So we get a lot of referrals from them. One of their residents had, you know, called them and said, ‘Hey, I have these rabbits I can no longer care for.’ So they made the referral to us,” Evans-Estenson said. “We have a bit of a wait list, you know, so when a spot opened up Tiffany and I drove down to Durand and picked up Lucy. She was being used to breed.”
Rabbits can have hundreds of babies if they are not spayed or neutered. They might become “baby factories.”
“We spay and neuter every single one. They do not go to a new home unless they’re spayed or neutered,” Evans-Estenson said. “So have you heard that old saying ‘breeding like rabbits?’ It is true. Rabbits can get pregnant with multiple litters at one time. And they are always, I guess you want to call, in heat. They don’t really have a heat cycle like a cat or a dog. They can have, oh my gosh, hundreds of babies a year.”
Evans-Estenson and Wogahn are on a mission to rescue rabbits from abuse and neglect situations.
“We get a lot of rabbits that come in from hoarders. The one that she has was found in a trailer, like legit in a trailer, with like 50 dead rabbits,” Evans-Estenson said.
Wogahn confirmed that one of the rabbits she saved was coming out of a crippling and abusive environment.
“They were starting to eat each other. He came in with bite marks, and he was skin and bones,” Wogahn said.
The tips of the rabbits ears had been eaten off by other rabbits.
“And to be honest, I didn’t know rabbits would do that. I didn’t know they were that brutal,” she said.
“Rabbits in emergency situations like abuse (and) neglect, strays that are dumped out and like, ‘Here you go and go on into the wild’ — let it fend for itself. You know, those are the rabbits that we placed the focus on,” Wogahn said. “And then it’s education, you know, educating the public that yeah, they’re great pets, but they require a lot of work. And you have to do the research. You have to know what you’re doing.”
Hoppy House Rabbit Rescue provides those who foster rabbits with all the essentials, including hay, food, a litter box, and it covers spaying or neutering costs. Much of those costs come out of the pockets of the volunteers.
“With our foster homes, we just ask them to, you know, provide a safe loving space for each rabbit as we look for their forever home, you know, and like I said, we take care of everything,” Evans-Estenson said. “We don’t expect our foster homes to, you know, put any money into the rabbit. That’s our responsibility. We take care of that.
“You know, we just need people who are willing to socialize with them, show them that people are good, because remember, a lot of these come from situations where they’ve been neglected and abused.”
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