angieluv, even if there were an accurate way to count, it's really about doing what we reasonably can, not about the numbers or who does more than whom. I know few people seem to believe me, but in many ways, I get the easy part. Pulling a group of rabbits from a shelter and sending them on their way doesn't begin to compare to the effort needed to foster even one of them.
Yes, my total is impressive, but that's mostly because I'm the tiny, noisy, and visible tip of an enormous iceberg. Without shelters, foster homes, other rescues, transporters, transport coordinators, etc., none of this would have happened. You perform a vital service I can't - being there, on the ground, caring for the animals. Even if Chicago Ridge (or any of the other shelters I work with) were at my back door, I have neither the physical nor emotional strength to handle it. I don't have the space or finances to foster (much) in my home. There's lots of stuff I can't do, and that's OK, because I fill a gap in the equation that others can't, the one labeled "determined nut with a keyboard."
I get frantic too. Ask the poor people on the receiving end of my emails in the wee hours of the morning when my overheated brain is convinced that this is it, I've finally hit the wall. Most of the time, conditions change, sometimes at the 11 1/2th hour, and those victories are sweet. Last week I would have told you it was amazing there were any rabbits left to save at Chicago Ridge, because the situation was such that I was sure any other than the six Leaf had spoken for would be euthanized. Between a larger than expected transport (THANKS GUYS!), one adoption, and a change in policy at a single no-kill shelter that accepts bunnies, as of today Chicago Ridge has three unspoken for rabbits.
Three. That's unheard of. The slightest change in timing could just as easily have resulted in my writing an obituary for at least fourteen of those bunnies.
As of yesterday morning, I was convinced there would be a mass euth of almost all the 28 guinea pigs in residence. Not only did we not lose any, Chicago Ridge is now pig-less because they all found berths in no-kill shelters and homes. The place is so devoid of cages that the manager literally danced on an empty table this afternoon to celebrate, and I'm actually cautiously putting out feelers here on RO for more rabbits to help (a situation I never, ever, EVER expected to be in. Ever).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand frantic, and I understand the pain of the losses - but more often than not, somehow, things work out in the end. (The head honcho at Catnap and I have coined our own silly phrase, "In Conejita We Trust"). None of us goes this alone, and every bit you do, however small you may think it is, helps the process of saving this lost souls.
Oh, and by the way: getting rabbits to a shelter likely to find them homes IS a win worth celebrating!
