215-547-2062
[email protected]
Little rascals Co-leader
My name is Denise Ancharski and I live in Levittown, PA (45 minutes north of Philadelphia). I am one of the three leaders for this club. I have been a 4-H member for 10 years. I have been breeding and showing mini lops for about 11 years. Other breeds I have raised include American Fuzzy Lops and Dutch. I currently raise mini lops (of course) and Silver Martens. My parents, Dan and Mary Ann, are also actively raising and showing the same rabbits with me. They have been 4-H leaders for 11 years. We have a very small rabbitry (Rascally Rabbits) that consists of 15 wooden hutches located in our backyard. The three of us all take an active role in our rabbitry: my mom does the feeding, watering, and cleaning; my dad does the construction, socialization, and spoiling, wile I do a little bit of all of the above plus grooming and health care.
My interests in the rabbit and cavy project are: genetics, breeding, diseases, and feeding programs. I enjoy helping the 4-H'ers learn the basics and work their way through the more complicated material. It makes me feel good to watch a 4-H'er who has never handled a rabbit before perfect showmanship and become interested in breeding and showing their animal. I have competed in many rabbit and cavy youth activities on local, state, and national levels. These activities include: knowledge bowls, skill-athons, breed identification, essay contests, breed judging, record keeping, and royalty contests. I was the 1995 Pennsylvania State Rabbit Queen.
Currently I am a director for the Eastern Mini Lop Rabbit Club. I also work full-time as a Research Technician at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. I am also going to graduate school part-time at Thomas Jefferson to get my Master's in Microbiology and Immunology. I have a Bachelor's degree in Small Animal Science from Delaware Valley College.
Julia will be leaving to branch off LR due to its growing size. Julia be greatly missed... and we wish her good luck with her new club! :) :)
Julia Krout:
[email protected]
Julia has been involved in 4-H for 11 years. She started as a 4-H'er in a community club with the rabbit project. Julia took many more projects, but the rabbits stuck. In 1999, she co-founded the Carrot Crunchers 4-H R&C Club that meets in Perkasie. After heading to college, she helped the Hooves-n-Hoppers Club in Lehman, PA, become more focused in their project and run their first round-up. This past fall, she transferred to Delaware Valley College for a major of Small Animal Science. As soon as she came home, she became involved in 4-H again by becoming a leader with the Little Rascals. For the past five years, she has also started, writing a cavy curriculum for 4-H cavy members. Julia now has finished books one and two and is working on a level three.
Outside of 4-H, Julia raises American Fuzzy Lops and Rhinelanders to breed and show. She is also involved in non-4H rabbit clubs. She is on the board of the Rhinelander Rabbit Club of America, PA Representative for the American Fuzzy Lop Rabbit Club, President of the Bucks County R&C Association, and the Youth Committee Chair; Website Chair; and Convention Specialty Shows coordinator for the PA State Rabbit Breeders Association.