"I'm Tara Shannon - a foodie, lover of wine, writer, mental health advocate & a Thyroid cancer Survivor! And the creator of Rabbit & Bear.
I live in the middle of nowhere Ontario where my closest neighbors are buffalo. No, really!
Surrounded by my family, both furry and non-furry :) I live out my days testing recipes and trying my hardest to build a career out of what I love to do.
One thing my cancer diagnosis taught me was that I need to follow my dreams. It was a hard lesson learned. During my diagnosis I lost my job and both of my parents. Whether I wanted to or not -- life changed big time and my choices were either to sink or to swim. I chose to swim. It's not always easy, but here I am. Making my way -- my way!
My writing:
Rabbit & Bear Return with the Light -- Available NOW on Amazon! (Released December 2021)
Rabbit & Bear Make a Wish -- available in hardcover through Indigo, Coles & Chapters Stores across Canada and on online in softcover, through Amazon throughout much of the world. (Released December 2020)​
Not Cancelled: Canadian Kindness in the Face of COVID-19 (Anthology), available through Indigo, Amazon and ​Kobo
LIVE Small Town Magazine
Heart of Turtle Island: The Niagara Escarpment by Photographer Mark Zelinski"

"Hello Rabbit world! My name is Jonathan Silva. I’m the founder of Rabbit Savior and I would like to share my story. This past year I fought anxiety, depression, and an abundance of stress. On top of the pressures and isolation of Covid, I was dealing with some major business issues. I was not myself. There were lots of sleepless nights, and many days where I was just going through the motions. I felt like I couldn’t break through and live a life with purpose. So, I would hop on Instagram, like we all do to distract ourselves. I came across some funny rabbit pictures. They caught my attention and made me stop and think, “wow, this little guy seems so happy”. One image, in particular (to the left), made me smile. All the depression and anxiety went away completely for a brief moment. I began to follow all the rabbit pages that I could find. I had a ton of cute rabbit pictures on my phone that I would look at whenever I felt overwhelmed. It would completely change my mood and thoughts. This was a breath of fresh air for me. Then I thought, “wow, I’ll bet the owners of these awesome animals feel the same way that I am feeling”. Mind you, I’d never owned a rabbit. After a few weeks of following all these Instagram rabbit pages, I started seeing cries for help – Go Fund Me page after Go Fund Me page from rabbit owners who couldn’t afford treatments and surgeries. This left me hurting inside because these same rabbits that brought me out of the dark were now in their own dark place. I GRABBED MY CREDIT CARD AND PERSONAL LINES OF CREDIT and started donating like a mad man to save as many as I could. People began calling me the “RABBIT SAVIOR”. THAT’S WHEN RABBIT SAVIOR WAS BORN.
To help rabbits and rabbit owners I developed the Rabbit Savior membership program to reduce the cost of medical procedures, prescriptions, and rabbit care products. The program is an affordable cross between insurance, a wellness program, and a buying club with the singular goal of reducing the cost of caring for rabbits. As my team and I started building a website to offer the Bun Bill Assistance program, we added rabbit care information and links to help rescues all over the country with funding and supplies so the rescues can do what they do best, save these little guys like they saved me!
I soon learned that there is a dramatic shortage of exotic vets. This led me to my ultimate goal. To offer scholarships to high school students that want to become exotic veterinarians. This way we can build a network of rabbit vets across North America to service the amazing rabbit community. That ONE SINGLE INSTAGRAM PICTURE has led me to a deeper understanding of my life’s true purpose – to help save these amazing animals."





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