How do you start a rescue?

[fenshae]

I'd be very interested -- at a MUCH more stable time in my life -- in starting a rat rescue, and I was wondering how one would go about that. Let me stress I won't be doing this any time soon; I wouldn't consider starting it until I owned my own house rather than renting an apartment, for one, and until I had a much more sizeable savings account than I do now, and a working relationship with an experienced vet. So it'll be awhile.

But anyway. There aren't any rat rescues in New Mexico; there's some in Colorado and Arizona, and I believe one in Utah, but none here. No breeders, either -- we're like a ratty no-man's land down here. On the bright side, we're also so-far SDA-free :thumbup: hehe. So (assuming I stay in New Mexico and don't move with my boyfriend) I'd like to have a hand in making the first rat rescue. Sometime. Down the road.

How would you start a rescue? Do you need special licensing? How do you begin acquiring animals? Would you be affiliated with the local animal shelters to take any/all of their ratties? How much money should you have in order to start it? I'm assuming you need a non-profit business license....*thinking aloud*

So....I guess, just looking for general info from people who run rescues/do rescue work. I'm an information sponge!

Incidentally, I just sent out a couple of emails to local shelter groups basically asking them to keep me in mind if they get any surrendered ratties....hopefully that will be seen as a kind/helpful gesture and not wildly inappropriate.

 

[Cait]

Incidentally, I just sent out a couple of emails to local shelter groups basically asking them to keep me in mind if they get any surrendered ratties....hopefully that will be seen as a kind/helpful gesture and not wildly inappropriate.

I believe that is how a lot of rescues get started. LOL

Someone who actually runs a rescue will be along to answer your questions in more depth, but I just want to say, once word gets out that you are taking stray rats, you won't have to do much more outside of that to "get" rats. Rescues will come pouring in.

 

[jorats]

I'm not a rescue but I take in only rescues... I think the only difference with me and a rescue is that I don't adopt out.
It's really just a matter of setting yourself up, having a good website and picking up all unwanted rats in your area. Be sure to set yourself a limit or you'll be overwhelmed very fast and burn out too soon.

 

[Dahlas]

I have been thinking this over myself......I think the first thing is to set a limit, I would start small, have a certain amount of money to spend, think about how you will raise this money or will it come from your own pocket. Purchase suitable cages.....have certain areas set up.....quarantine room, boys adoption area, girls adoption area etc......a way to advertise either through pet finder or a website. Decide weather or not you will insist on spay and neutering......come up with a contract. You also have to think about hard questions....are you going to only take in placeable animals or deal with harder to adopt animals? Can you keep the ones who can't don't adopted? How long? It is easier if you think about all this before you start and try and get a clear picture of what you want to do and how much you are willing to put in to it.......

 

[SQ]

The previous suggestions are good.
However, instead of a quarantine room you will need a place to quarantine that has a separate airspace. Ideally, this would be with a foster who did not have their own rats. That way you would not need to care for quarantined rats daily .... disinfecting yourself, showering, changing clothes, etc.

To run a rescue and not have a separate airspace to quarantine would be irresponsible. It only takes one case of SDA ... and no matter where you are in North America, there is a risk. In Canada the risk is highest in BC because of the transport of rats across the border from the USA. In the USA, the highest areas of risk seem to be spread around the country. Many vets do not recognize SDA, etc attributing deaths to other things. As a result, it is hard to really know how widespread the serious rat diseases, such as SDA, are in any area.

When I lived in NB and rescued rats, I used my mothers home to quarantine. (There has been at least one confirmed case of SDA in NB.) It was extremely time consuming due to the activities required to maintain the quarantine. After moving to NS, I did not have the same resources available and took calculated risks .... but I am just involved in rescue, not a rescue.

If you are going to be a rescue and not someone who does a bit of rescue, you will also need to be part of a group ... hopefully a group of likeminded rattie owners that you get to know.
Most real rescues have foster homes, people to do fund raising, at least one person with excellent organizational skills, people to do public relations/educate the public re rats, relationships with good rat vets, relationships with shelters, etc. It is a lot for one person to try to do by themselves.

As others said, you start small and set limits, however, to do it right and not burn out, you need to set it up properly from the start.
Many of us fall into rescue because we want to help needy rats in our areas. We may call ourselves rescues on our adoption contracts but we aren't. We are just people involved in rescue .... which is good and is needed.

You will need to screen people, check references, do home visits before and after rats are placed, have a legal contract and the resources to enforce it, etc. Many rescues insist on at least spaying all girls, if not neutering and spaying all rats that come under their care. Good, established rat rescues can provide you with information and suggestions about this, as well as advertising, websites, etc.

Unfortunately Kim's Ark is no longer doing rat rescue
You might want to talk to Mainely Rat Rescue and Little Mischief Rescue.
From all appearances, they seem to know what they are doing.
There are lots of other rescues doing a good job as well that could provide you with info. but those two come to mind.

 

[fenshae]

Ahh yes -- that's another thing I'll have to have set up before I even think about starting, a quarantine house. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to handle that if/when I get any new rats right now, actually....I really hate getting rats in pairs, waiting til the pair dies (sometimes watching the last one mope around lonely for months), then getting new ratties, but I don't have the resources for a separate quarantine house. *nose wrinkle*