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ES NOTE by Elliana Westmacott

Elliana Westmacott was born and raised in Santa Barbara. She is 10. She loves to
play the piano and soccer. Skiing, swimming in the ocean, reading, and visiting her
Nanas house are some of her favorite things to do. Her family and her dog George
make her happy. So does writing.

25 MARCH 8 APRIL | 2016 |

Animal House

31

BEAR HUGS

HOPPING INTO SPRING

eet Bear, a sweet ve year old with

a gentle disposition. He hails from
Los Olivos, so he is a true local. You would
never know it from his smiling face, but he
is going through treatment for Lymphoma.
Luckily, he is doing well. Lets all send some
healing vibes to this happy-go-lucky pup!

To see your pet in ANIMAL HOUSE/Pet of the Week, email a photo, name of pet and
owners, and some fun facts to megan@santabarbarasentinel.com

I loved feeding this bunny some lunch.

ave you ever seen a stranded dog

or cat on the street? Or what
about a stray bunny? I love bunnies,
especially the spotted ones; theyre so
sweet and soft! For this column, I got
to go visit the BUNS shelter bunnies
and feed them carrots. I also learned a
lot about how we can help these cute
creatures.
The name BUNS stands for Bunnies
Urgently Needing Shelter. It is so sad
how these animals are left alone and
stranded, and its nice to know that
BUNS is there to rescue them. We saw

lots of bunnies in hutches and pens,

and some of them are even able to
freely hop around. BUNS also cares
for guinea pigs, which are kept in the
same shelter as the bunnies. I would
recommend that you look at their
website to see the Bunny and Guinea
Pig of the Month if you are thinking
of adopting.
While we were at BUNS, we met
volunteers Gean and Terry. Gean stated
that there are 30-40 bunnies at the
shelter right now. If youre interested in
volunteering and are wondering what

The Doughty sisters doing good deeds.

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Follow the Rabbit Road to BUNS.

the volunteers do, they get to hold and

pet the bunnies, feed them, clean their
cages, and most importantly love them.
They actually have a job for petting and
loving them.
We also ran into two sisters, Paige
and Josie Doughty. They have been
volunteering for BUNS for three years
now. They looked like they really loved
the guinea pigs as they were feeding
them lettuce and petting them in their
arms.
The BUNS program started in 1992,
and it has grown so much since the rst
three bunnies that they started with. I
met pretty much all of the bunnies and
got to go around feeding them carrots.
I ran into one named Lily who loves
to eat, surprisingly, bananas! I also ran
into siblings that started to ght over
the carrots I was giving them. Maybe
bunnies arent much dierent from my

sister and me.

Its not a coincidence that I visited
the BUNS program right before Easter.
Many kids will wake up Easter morning
and nd that the Easter bunny hid eggs
all over their yards. Maybe what youll
do for Easter is go adopt a bunny, or
possibly the Easter bunny will bring you
one himself! Who knows?
Happy Spring,
Elli

ELLIS P.S.
If you want to visit the BUNS shelter, it
is attached to the Santa Barbara County
Animal Shelter at 5473 Overpass Road.
They are open Monday through Friday
from 9 am - 4:45 pm and Saturday from
10 am 4 am. You can call them at (805)
683-0521 and also read the website for
many more details about their program:
www.bunssb.org

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