Bibliography

                                                             Annotated Bibliography

           Crowell-Davis, Sharon L. Behavior Problems in Pet Rabbits.  Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine. 16. 1. 2007. 38-44. Print.This article has a lot of information about why rabbits exhibit certain behaviors.  In one of my blog posts I will be discussing a topic that is in this article, territorial rabbits, and rabbits that are kennel aggressive.  This will provide me with key research for certain blog entries and facts about rabbits that aren’t discussed, especially the science behind the behavior.DeMello, Margo. Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies. Columbia University Press, 2012. Print.DeMello concentrates to a large degree on animal human studies.  This field is very important to the blog because the blog needs theory that is going to help explain rabbit/human relations.  Why do humans really care about rabbits?  This may be too specific of a question to answer in this book. However, the book overall contains information about animals politically, their “conceptual construction in American Society,” and more to do with animals and how they relate to society.DeMello, Margo. Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature. Lantern Books. 2003. Print.Once again DeMello is writing about animal/human relations except she is specifying this relationship between rabbits and humans.  This will be useful for the blog because of how specific it is on my subject but also that it discusses the fact that rabbits are really one of the few animals used in domesticity and food in the United States. The book goes deeper into the subject of why the industries use rabbits and why are they so misunderstood which is crucial to this blog and website.
Dixon. Laura M. The Effects of Spatial Restriction on the Behavior of Rabbits (Oryctolagus Cuniculus.) Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 5. 6. 2010. 302-308. Print.This article is similar to Annie J. Valuska’s study but this shows with more research that rabbits need more room to move around.  That it is essential to the life of the rabbit and that smaller enclosure spaces might do more harm than good.  Rabbits need a lot more space than most adopters expect.  Dwarf rabbits, which are smaller rabbits, need even more space than the bigger ones, because they are more active.  Without this space they don’t really have the freedom to be rabbits or to exhibit usual behavior and instead become frustrated which can lead to further aggressive behavior.
 Flynn, Clifton P. Social creatures: A Human and Animal Studies Reader. Upstate, SC.  Lantern Books, 2008. Print.This book is about animals and their role in human society in several different essays by different authors.  It explores the field of human and animal studies.  There are very specific issues discussed in these essays, one of which I’m interested in because the setting of the blog is within a shelter in Camarillo.  In the description of the book it states “how animal shelter workers view the pets in their care.”  This is a point that could be explored for the blog and more.  There are several points within this book that could help the theoretical part of it.Gonzalez-Mariscal, Gabriela. The Maintenance and Termination of Maternal Behavior in Rabbits: Involvement of Suckling and Progesterone. Physiology and Behavior. 124. 2014. 72-76. Print.This article discusses the maternal behavior of rabbits.  I will be discussing this but the shelter is responsible for population control.  Euthanasia of baby rabbits born in the shelter is standard procedure.  Unless they are born outside of the shelter and brought in, they are euthanized.  All of this is to maintain room in the shelter for adoptable rabbits.  This is due to the fact that the mothers can’t be separated from their babies for eight weeks and so they can’t be adopted during that time.  It is also standard procedure to neuter and spay male and female rabbits before adoptions, paid by those who are adopting rabbits.  The babies cannot be fixed before the age of six months.  This article will explain the behavior of pregnant females that we often get in the shelter.  Every female that comes in is assumed pregnant as a precaution.  The article discusses behavior we deal with on a daily basis with pregnant females.House Rabbit Society. Hurricane Electric Internet Services. WordPress. February 4, 2014. Web.
House Rabbit Society is one of the best online resources for bunnies out there.  At the Ventura County Animal Shelter they use packets with information from this website to give to potential adopters of rabbits.  This website is essential because it has so much information about rabbits that it will probably contribute to what I write in the blog.  It’s a great place to go for research about rabbits.Princz, Zoltan. Behavior of Growing Rabbits under Various Housing Conditions. Applied Animal Behavior Science. 111. 3-4. 2008. 342-356. Print.In this study they discovered that rabbits preferred plastic net floor and chewing sticks for overall happiness.  This is relevant to the research because it allows people to understand that humans need to look further into rabbits and what they like and dislike and receive a rigorous education.  The scientists wanted to see how environmental variables affected behavior and welfare on the rabbits, which is exactly what I’m going to be discussing in some of my blog entries.
Valuska, Annie J. Size does Matter: The Effect of Enclosure Size on Aggression and Affiliation between Female New Zealand White Rabbits during Mixing. Applied Animal Behavior Science. 149. 1-4. 2013. 72-76. Print.In the shelter, volunteers with the Bunny Brigade often deal with this specific problem discussed in the article.  Rabbits are highly territorial and they tend to do better if they have larger enclosures because they aren’t meant to be in tiny spaces.  Bonding is definitely going to be discussed in the blog which is essentially what these scientists are testing in this laboratory except they’re dealing with space more as a factor in the bonding process.  We usually introduce rabbits outside, if volunteers are trying to bond two rabbits.  This article is helpful in showing what bonding is and what it takes to bond a pair of rabbits.  http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.htmlThis website gave me a lot of insight into malocclusion in rabbits. It talks about why they have this problem and what the owner can do about it.  Malocclusion is discussed in the Special Needs area of the blog.  This may have to do with the life and death of a rabbit in several cases because this particular condition if not taken care of properly can result in them going into GI stasis which is basically a shutdown of a rabbit’s body.