White rabbit/ bunny-dental surgery

First off, my name is Katie Robinson. I live in SLC, Utah. I am owned by two adopted rabbits - adopt, don't shop! - named Maisy Dae and Chester, and until last Tuesday, I was fostering two more.  This is a long story. I'm telling it, hoping that it will allow you to navigate and advocate for change more successfully than I did.   Last Friday, my Mom went into the local shelter where I volunteer. She met with the volunteer coordinator, the last step in the process, so my Mom could be a volunteer, too. While there, my Mom and the volunteer coordinator noticed a white bunny with a face covered in mud. They took pictures of the rabbit, presumably so that the coordinator could let someone know that it needed help. This was Friday at 2:30.  When I went in to volunteer at the shelter on Saturday at 1:30, the white bunny's face was still dirty. One eye was crusted shut, the other was barely open, it's entire face was covered in gunk, as were it's ears and nostrils. It took a couple hours, but I managed to get all the gunk off of it, except for the nostrils, which it wouldn't let me clean. In a cage on top of the white bunny's hutch, I found a tiny grayish brown bunny that was probably only a couple months old. The bunny was skin and bones. It looked like it had a humpback, it's spine was so pronounced. My Mom asked a vet tech to mix up some Critical Care. She got about 12 CCs into the malnourished bunny over the space of half an hour. The rabbit was really cold, it's body temp was way below mine, so I had my Mom wrap it in a towel and pet it for a couple hours. We left it wrapped in the towel in the cage when we left at six.  On Sunday, another volunteer went to the barn to feed the super skinny bun. She discovered that the white bun in the hutch below it - the one who's face I'd cleaned on Saturday - had teeth that were growing sideways. The volunteer, smart cookie that she is, mixed up some Critical Care and fed both buns. The white one, especially, was terribly hungry. (And I felt like a total ass because I hadn't figured out the day before that it had dental issues that prevented it from eating.) I rearranged my work schedule, and I went in on Monday morning and fed both the skinny bun and the white bun some Critical Care. I got almost 20 CCs into the white one, and about 12 into the skinny brownish grey one. The skinny one seemed to be having breathing issues, which it hadn't had on Saturday. On my way out, late for work, I asked the front desk if I could talk to the shift supervisor about the rabbits. I explained that the brownish gray skinny bunny wasn't maintaining his/her body temp and was having breathing issues, and about the white bunny's dental problems, and that both needed to be fed by hand. She said both buns were going to be checked by the vet that afternoon. I conversed with the foster coordinator via email a lot during the remainder of Monday, and the exchanges were slightly off. I kind of noticed it at the time, but in hindsight, it's crystal clear.  The foster coordinator asked me to bring my fosters back to the shelter. I'd only had them for two weeks, so I thought the timing was strange. She said that an Idaho rescue experienced in dealing with unsocialized buns was coming to take them. Cool! I agreed to bring them back on Saturday, when I'd be coming in to volunteer again. Late Monday, the foster coordinator let me know that the vet had said there was nothing wrong with the malnourished grayish brown bunny. It's breathing was fine, a staff member had seen it eat, it just needed to put on weight. She went on to say that the vet had decided to euthanize the white bunny on Thursday, October 11th. I asked her why, and she said it's teeth were bad. Sunday's volunteer had said that it's teeth were growing sideways; I assumed she'd meant the front ones, since seeing a bunny's back teeth is hard to do. I called my - exotics, rabbit savvy - vet and asked her about dental issues. My vet said that many buns have bad incisors, but that they could be removed and the rabbit would be fine, as long as the molars were in good condition.  When I'd talked to the foster coordinator earlier, it wasn't clear to me whether they were going to euthanize because the shelter vets didn't have the knowledge to do an extraction, the shelter didn't have the funds for rabbit dentistry, or if all of the teeth were bad. So I emailed the foster coordinator again, asking whether all the white bun's teeth were bad, or just the incisors? I didn't get a response.  I sent the foster coordinator numerous emails that evening, asking if I could come get the bun for an hour, so I could take it to my vet, who has experience with rabbit extractions, to make sure it wasn't savable. I asked if the vet who had done the exam could call my vet, so they could talk about it. I asked if one of the back staff could take the rabbit to my vet, if it was a matter of legal property issues. The answer to all my questions was either "no" or silence. I finally asked if the shelter could get some pictures to me, so I could let my vet take a look. The foster coordinator said she'd try. Later that evening, I realized that pics probably wouldn't tell my vet enough to make a decision, that she'd need to see the bun in person. Desperate, I asked if I could foster the bun, so I could make sure it was fed until it was euthanized. (Of course, if she'd said I could foster it, I planned to take the bun to my vet.) So it's midnight on Monday, I'd been conversing with the shelter all day, trying to figure out whether this rabbit can be saved, trying to figure out how to take on the expense myself, and haven't received enough information to make any decisions. I didn't know what kind of expenses I was getting into, and don't know any buns that have had their incisors removed. I needed info, and since there were only two days before the bun was euthanized, and I was getting very little actionable info from the shelter, I decided to do a Reddit post in the r/rabbit subreddit.  In my post, I was factual, and didn't bad mouth the shelter. I got some really good responses with links, phone numbers, email addresses and experienced advice. I got more help, info, and education in 12 hours on Reddit, than I had in three days working with the shelter. Unbeknownst to me, one of the Redditors contacted a rabbit rescue in Idaho, to see if they could help. The Idaho rescue regularly works with my shelter, and said they'd check into it.  Tuesday morning, at about 9 am, I got an email from the foster coordinator saying that I couldn't foster the bun. She didn't say why, but the tone of the message was agreeable. An hour later, the foster coordinator called me. Finally! She was going to give me some info, or advice, or something that would help me figure out if this bun could be saved! The foster coordinator said, as best I can remember, "we're kicking you out of the volunteer program and the foster program, and you aren't allowed on the shelter's grounds. What time should the sheriffs come by tonite to pick up your foster rabbits?" I was totally dumbfounded. I asked why, and she said, "when you met with the Director, she told you not to post on social media again." (I had posted something else - something not terribly nice - on FaceBook a couple months ago, after the shelter euthanized a rabbit.) I said, "I didn't post on FaceBook, only on Reddit, and only in the rabbit forum. I needed advice and cost info." I'm not sure what the foster coordinator said next, because I was in shock. She said something like, "yep, that's why". I told her I'd have my foster rabbits ready to go at 7:45. When I asked her about the white bunny, she said, "we might blacklist you from adopting." I asked her what I could do. She said, "call the front desk on Thursday at 10 am. They'll tell you whether the rabbit is still here, if it's still alive, if we'll allow it to be adopted, and if we're willing to let YOU adopt it." (In case you didn't catch it, Thursday, the day she told me to call, was the 11th, the same day the rabbit was scheduled to be euthanized.)  Tuesday night two SLC cops and an animal control officer showed up at my house to take my two fosters. The animal control officer didn't know why he was at my house. He's an officer I've spoken with before, and he is kind, so I explained what was going on. I did my best to be factual, but my eyes kept leaking, and my voice kept breaking. I gave him the care instructions that I had printed up for each foster rabbit. He let me help load the truck, so I knew they had all their toys, and hidey houses, and were safe during transport. He said I was the nicest person he'd ever had to pull fosters from, and promised to enter the care info I'd given him into the shelter's computer system. After he left, one of the cops pulled me aside and said that he could tell I was a decent person, and obviously very invested in rabbit welfare, and that he hoped that saner minds would prevail and the shelter would let me back into the foster/volunteer program because he was sure the bunnies needed me. I thanked him, broke into tears, and had to walk away.  Now that I think back on it, about the strangeness of some of the interactions I had with the foster coordinator via email on Monday; I'm fairly certain the shelter was already wanting to oust me then. Posting on  Reddit Monday night just gave them the excuse they needed to do it.    *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** Update *** I called the shelter at 10 am this morning. I couldn't get anyone at the front desk to answer. I worked my way through the voicemail tree, and got the vet tech supervisor. She was awesome! She found out the white bunny was still alive, that he was available to be adopted, and that I could adopt him. She figured out how much the adoption cost was, and had one of the vets supply me with enough Metacam (a painkiller) to keep the white bunny comfortable until I take him to my vet tomorrow at 8 am.  We're not out of the woods yet. Yes, the first hurdle has been hurdled. I brought the white bunny home this afternoon. I've named him Perseverence, Persy or Persie for short, because - damnit! - he managed to keep himself alive on the streets for who knows how long, despite the fact that he was in pain, couldn't eat well, and is only about 2.5 lbs.  He ate 50 CCs of Critical Care, had 1/2 ml of Metacam, drank 1/4 cup of water, and then fell asleep on my chest. Folks, either this is the most unusually trusting rabbit ever, he is so tired of fighting that he took a chance on me, or he was loved by someone at some point. I really kind of hoped he'd be difficult, or unsocial, because if I have to put him down tomorrow - which is what will happen if my vet says his molars are shot - it's going to break my heart. This is the sweetest, calmest, most human social rabbit I've ever met.   I currently have enough funds to cover the cost of the initial visit, Metacam for pain, and whatever they decide to prescribe in the short term for his eyes. (When rabbits have teeth problems, it very often causes problems with their eyes, too. I don't know if the loss of fur around his eyes, and the crustiness, is related to his teeth or not.) I do NOT, however, have enough for dental surgery and neutering. (Yes, he could live without being neutered, but I'm trying to be a responsible rabbit owner. Plus, prey animals like rabbits don't do well under anesthesia, so I want to get everything done in one fell swoop, so he doesn't have to be put under again.) I had someone on Reddit ask me why I was adopting a bunny if I couldn't afford it's medical care. I wasn't looking to adopt, this bunny came out of left field. If I'd been planning to adopt, I would've had funds saved, I would have had contingencies in place. I'm not really a willy-nilly sort of person. I've adopted this bun, despite not having the funds to cover his medical needs, for the simple reason that if I didn't, the shelter was going to put him down him today.  If more funds than I need for Persy are donated, I'll either return them to you, or donate them to the Idaho shelter that helped me get information when the shelter wouldn't talk to me. (I'm not sure GoFundMe or FaceBook can refund donations, I haven't checked into it yet. I've been busy, you know, crusading and stuff.)  I want to personally thank, on Persy's behalf, everyone who has already donated and shared his story and the links I've posted. I publicly put up a GoFundMe post on my FaceBook page, as well as a FaceBook fundraiser post last night. Find me on FaceBook - Katie Robinson in SLC, Utah - and please, please share and repost!  Thank you Reddit! Thank you FaceBook! Thank you GoFundMe! Thank you, rabbit lovers everywhere!