Meet the Contributors
Sincere thanks to the individuals who have so generously contributed to this website, offering information, direct quotes, or writing entire pieces. I invite you to read about each of these dedicated people.
Charmaine Blaisdell, age 74, lives in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. She is an accomplished musician who sings and plays the violin and piano. She also practices yoga daily. Charmaine has lived with several rabbits and currently shares her home with a little male named Mr. Lucky, rescued through the Rhinelander Animal Shelter.
Charmaine Blaisdell contributed the story, Adventures of Mopsy Bunnytail.
***
Margo DeMello, PhD, is the executive director of the House Rabbit Society (www.rabbit.org), an international rabbit rescue and education organization. She is recognized as one of the foremost experts on rabbit social behavior and lives with a group of fifty domestic rabbits at her home.
Actively concerned for the welfare of all animals, Margo is the director of the Human-Animals Studies Program for the Animals and Society Institute (www.animalsandsociety.org).
She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology and currently lectures at Central New Mexico Community College, teaching sociology, cultural studies, and anthropology.
Her books about animals include Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature (with Susan E. Davis, 2003) and Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection (with Erin E. Williams, 2007). Additional books include Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community (2000), Low-Carb Vegetarian (2004), and The Encyclopedia of Body Adornment (2007). The latter was included in the 2008 list of Outstanding Reference Sources for small and medium-sized libraries by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association.
Margo has also had articles published in the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships (Marc Bekoff, ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Rights (Marc Bekoff, ed.), and A Cultural History of Animals: The Modern Age (Randy Malamud, ed.).
Books to be released in 2009 include A Cultural Encyclopedia of Feet and Footwear (author) and Teaching the Animal: Human-Animal Studies Across the Disciplines (editor).
Margo DeMello contributed the article, “Why Celebrate Rabbits.”
***
Jim Johnson is co-founder and vice-president of Happy Tails Animal Sanctuary (www.htsanctuary.com), located near Columbia, Missouri. Jim and his daughter, Kate, have rescued animals since 1987, and she still accompanies him on many rescues. Jim started the foster program at the local humane society in the late 1980s and co-founded Happy Tails in 1998. While waiting for their forever home, over 1,500 animals have lived with Jim and his family.
A regular columnist for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Jim has a master’s degree in music education, taught in public schools for 36 years and, with his wife, has directed music at the Midway Methodist Church for 25 years.
Jim Johnson contributed the story, "Chester, the Lop-Eared Rabbit."