by Brian Lee and James Kittock
In this issue:
BARMCA has both a webpage and an e-mail list. The webpage is at
http://www.rmca.org/barmca
We'll post copies of all the newsletters, as well as a regularly updated flier listing rats and mice looking for homes which you can print out and post where ever people will let you post it! You can also now find out online where and when the next meeting will be, how to get there, what to bring, and so on. And in general you'll find info like what we are about, who to contact about what, what fine companies have donated stuff to the rescue project, and whatever other random bits of info about our chapter that James and Brian decide the whole world needs to see.
To join the e-mail list send a note to James at (contact info removed) (or to Brian at (contact info removed) before March 15).
BARMCA currently knows of the following animals needing homes. Please check with the contacts for additional up-to-date information.
| Type | Number & sex | Age(s) | Comments | Contact |
| rats | 4 males, 2 females 1 female |
born Dec. 4 approx. 8 mo. |
hooded, various colors (mink, agouti, beige) |
Amanda Svensson (contact info removed) |
| mouse | 1 female | "young" | white | Peninsula Humane Society (415) 340-8200 |
| rats | various | various | SF shelter almost always has rats (they have a "rat expert" on staff, Melissa Flower) | SF Dept. of Animal Care and Control (city shelter) (415) 554-6364 |
| rats/mice | unknown | unknown | HS-SCV frequently has rats and sometimes mice | Humane Society of the Santa Clara Valley (408) 727-3383 |
Amanda Svensson has been organizing a rescue project for BARMCA. Here's how she got started:
"My company is located very near the Santa Clara Valley Humane Society, so I stopped by one day in mid October to ask if they ever got any rats in and if so were they interested in a rat rescue group. They were ecstatic and took my name and number as well as giving me a set of forms to have BARMCA fill out. A few days later, before I had a chance to fill out the forms or talk to anyone in BARMCA, I was contacted by the SCVHS and told that someone had dropped off a pair of rats and that the female of the pair had given birth. The HS was unable to cope with the pups and wondered if I might be able to foster them. Unfortunately, the male and female were kept together by the HS and I was blessed with a second litter ~ 1 month later. These were BARMCA's first official rescues."
The Rescue is in the process of:
The Rescue has the following structure. Note the large number of vacant positions! (if you spoke up at the last meeting and we don't have you listed it's probably because we didn't get your name from Amanda, but you might remind her just in case).
Rescue Coordinators manage the Rescue and facilitate the flow of information between shelters, volunteers, and foster homes. We would like to decentralize the Rescue with Regional Coordinators to cover the greater Bay Area (e.g., Peninsula, SF, San Jose, Marin, East Bay, etc.). If you think you could help out by acting as coordinator for a region (either one of these or define your own region), please contact Amanda.
| Position | Who |
| General Coordinator | Amanda Svensson (contact info removed) |
| Funds Coordinator | James Kittock (contact info removed) |
| Tri-Valley Regional Coordinator | Brian Lee (contact info removed) |
| other Regional Coordinators | OPEN |
Shelter Contacts act as liasons to individual shelters and provide a point of contact for shelters when they have animals in need of homes. Shelter Contacts also periodically check with shelters to find out the current status of animals available for adoption. Shelter Contacts are not expected to house rescue animals, so it is a great way for you to help out if you can't take in additional animals! Contact Amanda if you're interested.
| Position | Who |
| Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley Co-Contacts | Amanda Svensson Kathy Tsai |
| Peninsula Humane Society Co-Contacts | Johanna MacLeod Linda Racine |
| other shelter contacts | OPEN |
Animals needing homes are placed with foster homes until permanent homes can be found. Foster homes can also (but are not required to) provide permanent homes for animals with special needs that make them unsuited for adoption, e.g., health or behavioral difficulties. We currently have very limited foster space, so please contact Amanda if you could take in animals. BARMCA may be able to help out with habitats, food, etc.
Animals brought in from shelters or surrendered directly to BARMCA need to be quarantined for two to three weeks to ensure that they are healthy. Quarantine Homes take in these animals for a short period of time, after which the animals are moved to a foster or permanent home. If you don't want to take on additional animals for an indefinite period of time, provding quarantine space is a great way to help out. Obviously, if you have animals of your own, you should have a separate room where you can keep quarantine animals. If you can act as a quarantine home, please let Amanda know.
BARMCA needs to find vets who can help out in either or both of the following ways:
It would be great if vets can provide services to rescued animals at reduced rates, but this is not required to be affiliated with BARMCA Rescue. If you know of a good vet, please discuss this with them and pass along contact information to Amanda or the appropriate Regional Coordinator. Once the overview packet about BARMCA Rescue is finalized, we will send a copy along to your vet so they can know more about us before making a final decision about being affiliated with the program.
We would like to keep vets and reputable pet stores updated on Rescue contacts and animals available for adoption. Brian Lee will be maintaining a flyer on the BARMCA website and will send notices to the BARMCA e-mail list when he updates the flyer. If you would be willing to periodically take flyers to vets or stores near you, you can just print them out off the webpage. If you don't have web access, we will also maintain a list of flyer volunteers to whom we will fax, e-mail, or snail mail the flyers--please contact James at (contact info removed) if you would like to be on this list.
BARMCA Rescue is collecting funds which currently go 100% to the care and feeding of rescued animals. In the future, we might set aside a small amount for postage & publicity of the Rescue. None of the funds go towards BARMCA meetings or other events or projects. If you can help out, donations should be sent to:
BARMCA Rescue
c/o James Kittock
(contact info removed)
Please make checks payable to "James Kittock" and put "BARMCA Rescue" in the memo space. So far, we have collected $218--a big thanks to everyone who has donated money. If you'd like to donate habitats or supplies directly, contact Amanda Svensson at (contact info removed).
We also welcome corporate donations. For example, Novalek, Inc. (makers of Oasis brand water bottles and other small animal products) has donated water bottles and other supplies, which we really appreciate!
Next meeting: Saturday March 22, place & time TBA
BARMCA has now had two "official" meetings. The first was November 16 in Mountain View and the second was January 18 in San Lorenzo. In January, almost thirty people came for some or all of the meeting, many bringing their rodent friends as well. We mingled for a while, had some pizza, and then discussed various BARMCA business, most of which is covered elsewhere in this newsletter.
The meetings have been fun, informative, and constructive so far, so we encourage everyone to try to make it to the next one, which will be held March 22. The location and exact time haven't been set yet, so please contact Brian at (contact info removed) a week or so before the meeting. (We'll also post this info on the web page and the email list.) See you there!
As a reminder, our regularly scheduled meeting date is the third Saturday of odd-numbered months, although this will sometimes change depending on holidays and so forth. The remaining scheduled meetings for this year are May 17, July 19, September 20, and November 15.
James will be making a trip to James Grain (no relation!) in San Jose before the March 22 meeting. We can get high-quality lab block and lab-grade CareFresh from James Grain for cheap. Prices (tax included):
If you'd like to get some food or betting, please let James know no later than March 17 (you can leave e-mail or a voicemail while he is gone). Specify how much of each you'd like! (Note: we can also get 3 cu. ft. bags of Sani Chips, for about the same price as the 50 liter bags of CareFresh). BARMCA resells this at cost as a service; you can pay James with cash or a check at the meeting.
By Brian Lee.
At the moment BARMCA has no dues, and we've just raised whatever we needed at the moment by passing the hat. But now (especially with the rescue project) we often find ourselves in need of some more stable funds. One way we could raise these finds would be to have dues, so here's my proposal, should we take this route.
Rather than having formal dues, I would like to have a suggested donation. We wouldn't require anyone to pay, we'd just like it if you could. But if someone doesn't want to get that involved, or can't afford to, or they are just checking us out, or whatever, that's fine. Our meetings are open, and we won't throw anyone out for not paying.
How Much: The National RMCA has suggested $10/year for the local chapters. We might use this as a suggested annual donation. More would be welcome, but anything would help.
What your dues will be used for: Primarily for the Rat & Mouse Rescue project -- assistance in buying food, litter, and possibly medical care for rescue rats. Some amount would also go towards postage and printing costs for the newsletter and flyers.
What your dues WON'T be used for: Paying for meeting places, food at meetings, or anything like that. All "social events" will still be funded by passing the hat.
We would like to get as much input as possible on this and any other fund raising possibilities, so let us know how you feel.
Back in November we held our first "Rat & Mouse Day" at The Pet Place in Menlo Park. The store wasn't too crowded because the weather was kind of nasty, but the ten or so BARMCA folks hanging out made things lively. Overall, the day was a success, not to mention lots of fun. And now that we've done one, it doesn't seem so intimidating to arrange. You just need to arrange it with the store and get a few supplies together: a card table and some chairs, copies of BARMCA fliers and the rat & mouse care guide, some friendly rats to greet people, and maybe some paper towels and some hand sanitizer.
What we'd like now is for people to contact their local pet stores and organize their own Rat & Mouse Days. We even have a a big display (kind of like you would have for a science fair project) that we made for the first Rat & Mouse Day and people are welcome to borrow it. If you think you'd like to host a Rat & Mouse Day, please contact James for more advice and information! The March 22 meeting would be a good time to borrow the display.
| BARMCA People & Projects | Contact Information |
Brian Lee
|
(contact info removed) |
James Kittock
|
(contact info removed) |
| Rat & Mouse Rescue | Amanda Svensson (contact info removed) |
| Library Display | Rebecca Oliver (contact info removed) Johanna MacLeod |
| Shelters | Contact Information |
| Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley | (415) 340-8200 |
| Peninsula Humane Society | (408) 727-3383 |
| SF Dept. of Animal Care and Control (city shelter) |
(415) 554-6364 |
James will be on vacation in the UK March 5 to March 15 so if you leave him e-mail or voicemail don't be surprised if he takes a while to respond. You can also contact Brian Lee or Amanda Svensson instead (Brian for mailing list or general administrative matters, Amanda for Rescue-related matters).
BARMCA is the Bay Area Chapter of the Rat & Mouse Club of America, the largest Rat & Mouse Club in the world (and probably the galaxy).
Rat & Mouse Club of America
13075 Springdale St. #302
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 892-7523
rmca1@aol.com
http://www.rmca.org