Today we’d like to introduce you to Toni Greetis.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a child, I was obsessed with rabbits. It could have been Thumper the rabbit on my Bambi bedsheets, or the wisecracking Bugs Bunny on Saturday morning cartoons; but most likely it was because rabbits are utterly adorable and soft, with warm inviting eyes and beautiful ears.
I often asked my parents for a pet bunny, but back then, rabbits were “outside” pets, and sometimes food. My father grew up during the depression, and animals did not live in the house. So when I got my first apartment in college, I rescued a rabbit from a neglectful student. A soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew Bunny was my soulmate. He was smart, friendly, goofy, happy, mischievous, zen, spastic and oh so cute. So much personality in this beautiful furry package.
Bunny became my best friend – no joke- and when he passed in 1998, I decided to dedicate my life to these amazing creatures. I found a small animal shelter in West Rogers Park called Red Door Shelter. This amazing rescue is the only multi-species shelter in Chicago that rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes the 3 most popular pets in the US -cats, dogs and rabbits (they even rescue ducks and chickens!).
What sets this rescue apart from the others is Red Door’s commitment to helping abused and abandoned rabbits. I LOVED RED DOOR and over the years worked my way up to vice president of the shelter.
Has it been a smooth road?
Volunteering in animal rescue is never easy. The constant stream of unwanted pets that need rescue is never-ending, and it can often be discouraging because we see the worst in human nature. Compassion fatigue is a common complaint, but most of us keep plugging along because we are dedicated to the animals.
The main struggle for Red Door is dispelling the public’s misconception that rabbits are dirty, unintelligent animals that belong in an outside hutch. Too many parents impulsively purchase baby bunnies as Easter toys for their children, but in a few weeks that bunny becomes a large teenage rabbit, filled with hormones that lead to biting, scratching, chewing and spraying of urine. This is the main reason rabbit get abandoned outside.
Every year our shelter counts the number of rabbits we rescue from the outdoors, where they will die a painful death if not found by our volunteers. Red Door takes in hundreds of other rabbits from animal control facilities and owner surrenders.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Red Door Animal Shelter – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
In the 15 years that I been with Red Door, we have tripled the size of our rabbit program and have built a nation-wide reputation as the Midwest’s finest rabbit resource. Not only do we rescue rabbits, we provide educational outreach, behavior counseling, boarding and grooming services, and bunny “speed dating,” because rabbits need to pick their own life partners!
Red Door is unique with its quarterly fundraiser called Spa Di Dah Day. Clients can bring their cats, rabbits and guinea pigs to Red Door for grooming and glamour shots. One of my favorite duties at the shelter is to build rabbit-sized sets, complete with costumes, based on popular or kitschy themes – James Bund, Stranger Things and Buns of Anarchy to name a few. This is our most popular fundraiser for rabbit owners, who share the photos online, thus expanding our reach.
Red Door has a wonderfully dedicated base of volunteers who go the extra mile. When we receive a call about a pet rabbit that was spotted in the forest preserve or on the street, we post a Rabbit Action Alert to our social media. Immediately, our volunteers organize to go into the field, no matter the time, location, or temperature, to find and capture these rabbits.
I’m also very proud of the fact that in 2014, Red Door was instrumental in getting rabbits added to the Chicago city ordinance that bans the sale of dogs and cats from for-profit breeders and puppy mills. Unfortunately, we still have to contend with the abandoned rabbits who are purchased at pet stores in the suburbs, but there is always hope that Cook County, and eventually the state of Illinois, will follow suit.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
In 1992, I moved to Chicago from a rural town in central Illinois called Toluca – population 1500!
The first couple years I struggled with the crowds, noise and safety issues of the Big City, but in the end, Chicago won my heart with its diverse population, spectacular architecture, and, of course, gorgeous Lake Michigan.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2410 W. Lunt Ave Chicago, IL 60645
- Website: www.reddoorshelter.org
- Phone: 773-764-2242
- Email: info@reddoorshelter.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/reddoorshelter
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/reddoorshelter
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/RedDoorShelter
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/red-door-animal-shelter-chicago
Image Credit:
Toni V. Greets
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