Rodent Awareness & Welfare Association **UPDATED**

[Emma]

Just to let you all know about this new organisation.



It is in it's infancy at present but has high hopes for the future.



Aims and Objectives of RAWA



- To continually raise funds to open and maintain a rescue for rodents and rabbits in Exmouth Devon

- To raise funds to open and maintain other rescues in the southwest and then around the UK.

- To promote correct husbandry of all species of common domestic rodents.

- To promote the duty of care to anyone owning, selling, breeding or displaying rodents to the public.

- To highlight and promote the numbers of unwanted rodents in rescue

- To campaign for changes in legislation regarding pet shops and petting areas

- To campaign for inadequate caging to be removed from the open market

- To campaign for a tax on pet shops and commercial breeders to help support rescue centres.



At the moment they have just launched a new forum, at http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=rawaboard , you can register now and get involved from the start.



I'll keep HC updated when there are further developments!

[Skwee]

Those are great aims, ought to stretch further than down south though!! ;) i ought to read the website though.



I particularly love the second from last aim ;) dayum rotastak etc :twisted: ooops people have rotastak :shock: errr



To be honest i dont like the last aim. I understand it well enough but if they ever did do it.. it would ruin my life thats for sure.



Im only 17 so to breed (aim is to improve on our genetics and improve on the high quality of the animals we have and for good health and temperment), to hold down a job AND to be in full time education is hard as it is not to mention time consuming and costly! (plus learning to drive and having to pay for my test over and over :roll: )



If laws came in for petshops i have no doubt that would include anyone with a petshop license (and yes, by new years my friend and i will have one) then we are going to end up being taxed to high heavens when i have huge issues with pretty much all rescue centers round here.



They do great stuff but cant make up their minds! i opted to adopt a cat at 3 places and got turned down as one of my cats keeps getting hit by cars :roll: well... she *does* lay in the road and refuse to move! (she cant be kept inside so dont suggest it :p) but i live in the country with a tiny tiny road going past and aparently the road was too dangerous :evil: whereas my friend lives in a *slightly* more built up area with a 30mph limit going past her house and they also turned her down for cat and dog. my family also got turned down for a dog because my brother was 8 and he had to be ten which is a load of rubbish and no wonder so many animals are pts :evil:



Im also not allowed to have any kind of rodent because i am linked with my friend and we breed ours (even if they'd not be used for breeding and would be at my house not my friends with the other animals).



so yeh :wink: dont like the last aim. they need to sort themselves out before taxing other people who are doing the best they can. (mind you, i think proper petshops ought to be taxed anyway!!)

[Emma]

I think the idea of that one is that for any animal sold by a breeding establishment such as yourself, a small percentage would be taken to go to a central pot to which rescues could apply for funding. So it wouldn't apply to all petshop licensees, only those selling livestock, and there would be a way to vet the rescues receiving the money. That's how I understand Siobhan's aim anyway.



I too have a slight issue with this one - but it's a minor niggle, and by being involved with RAWA on the forum etc from the start I hope to be able to engage in discussion to help form and shape the aims and campaigns. At the moment it's all one very hard-working person's ideas.

[Skwee]

Fair enough, I still agree, it's a good plan!

[Emma]

Things have been moving at RAWA. There is now a preliminary website up at http://www.rattyhaven.co.uk/ (temporary address) with more information. I'd really encourage all UK Hamster Central members to join the RAWA forum too (link in first post) and become involved in this project. And spread the word - if you visit any other hamster or other rodent forums, feel free to post about RAWA and let everyone know about it!



Tonight I'm going to a meeting with other people who will be on the initial committee, so will let everyone know how that goes.

[Emma]

Friday's meeting went very well - it was really just a gathering of people who are going to be working on this, a bit of a brainstorm and discussion about what and how things are going to happen. We have big plans for RAWA - but it's going to be starting small at first.



RAWA is going to be about supporting & promoting rodent rescue, including a scheme to faciliate all the many independent rodent rescues working together (we've found about 175 so far!!!), about educating people about pet rodents, rodent care etc, and about campaigning for changes to further pet rodent welfare - issues such as education of pet shop staff, tightening controls on pet shop licences, regulating animal rescues & sanctuaries, campaigning against inadequate cages and unsuitable toys/bedding etc being marketed and sold as suitable. RAWA eventually aims to set up RAWA rescues nationally where they are needed, that will all operate to the same high standard, and also to offer affiliation to independent rescues, to support them, facilitate networking between them and to maintain high standards nationally.



Basically, cats have Cats Protectoin, dogs have Dogs Trust, rabbits have the Rabbit Welfare Association.........now rodents will have RAWA.



The first edition of the magazine, Critter Chronicles, is almost ready to print. It will be £3 per copy including p&p, or £12 for an annual subscription (it will be a quarterly magazine). The debut issue includes an article about parasites by yours truly, a hamster article by Wendy Barry, an article on Degus, features a rodent rescue........and other stuff that I can't remember right now! If you are interested in ordering magazine let me know.



If anyone thinks they might like to get more involved in RAWA, let me know too. Hamster people are wanted!!!!

[babyboos]

Are they going to get involved with the AWB? I haven't read much encouraging information on it in regards to small rescue organisations to be honest - if we have to pay fees, I fear many will have to close...

[Emma]

At the moment with everything just getting off the ground we're concentrating more on just getting started, there is so much admin to do it's amazing!



There doesn't seem to be any official info about anywhere about the possible secondary legislation affecting rescues. What there was about 9 months ago, indicated that larger rescues would be licenced (annual fee) and inspected as pet shops are, and smaller ones would be registered - a one-off fee, probably about £50, and then inspected less. There is an inquiry at the moment by the CAWC into regulating rescues that you might be interested in replying too, have a look on their website http://www.cawc.org.uk under 'work studies'.



The general opinion of people present at the meeting was that there does need to be some regulation of rescues, people have been involved in rescuing from "rescues" that were really just animal collectors, of 'rescues' who bred from animals with unknown backgrounds etc, at present anyone can call themselves a rescue and keep the animals any way they like, as you know.



I expect we will send a reply to the CAWC enquiry as an organisation, and will be following the progress of this closely. The idea of rodent rescues becoming RAWA-affiliated is that they would then have a set of standards to work to, and then the public would know if they got an animal from a RAWA-approved rescue, that it would be working to certain standards.



Personally I think licencing & registration would be a very good idea, and that there needs to be set guidelines for how animals should be kept, and that it should state on a rescue's registration certificate/licence what species they are allowed to take in and how many of each they are allowed to have at any one time. RAWA will be extending it's training to rescue workers too, and every RAWA-approved rescue will be expected to have at least one person trained.

[Emma]

The RAWA forum has now been re-organised, and aims are changed slightly following discussion amongst the committee. Things are getting moving now and we're working on the constitution & structure of the organisation.



If anyone else wants to get involved, please do!! Come over to the RAWA forum and see whats going on.



About the AWB - at the moment we're (well, I'm!!!) mainly reading up about what is going on with the AWB and working on ways to make our voice heard on issues that affect rodents - which is mainly the codes of practice that will be drawn up outlining animal care, and secondary legislation affecting pet shops and rescues. There has been discussion of all these issues but nothing yet decided. I have read the bill itself, amendments that were proposed, and the transcripts of committee meetings & reports that are available in the public domain, I am pretty well informed on all the issues now I think.