pet connection

The RSPCA in the United Kingdom says that rabbits are “now the most abused pet.” Frankly, I don’t doubt it, and I can’t imagine the situation is any better in the United States.

While some rabbits have it better than ever — thanks to the House Rabbit Society’s educational efforts — many if not the vast majority of these pets spend their lives in backyard hutches. Wire for flooring, little or no protection from the elements and no room to stretch those legs, much less run the way a rabbit’s supposed to. If that ain’t hell, what is?

I got a “tip” from a reader the other day that just made me cringe. She said she throws earthworms under her rabbit hutches, and that this keeps the flies down. The droppings and urine fall through the wiring, and the earthworms help speak up the composting. All I could picture was her poor rabbits, trapped for life in a small cage, eating, pooping and making work for the earthworms. Funny, I don’t have a rabbit problem in my rabbits’ outdoor play yard. They use litter boxes, and I keep the boxes clean. But at least her rabbits are being fed. From the BBC piece:

Rabbits are the most abused domestic pet in England and Wales, with 35,000 abandoned every year, says the RSPCA.

The animal charity said a survey found that 70% of rescued rabbits had been kept hutched 24 hours a day.

Almost 40% had had no food, and half had been living in filthy conditions, it told the BBC.

It found that people bought rabbits but then quickly lost interest. On average the abandoned pets it came across had been dumped after just three months.

Many were simply released in the street or into the wild.

My first rabbit, Turbo, was a throwaway pet. A good Samaritan found him wandering the neighborhood and brought him to the local SPCA. He was a fright: Nearly starved, almost hairless and with a skin condition so bad that the staff named him “Flakes” because large patches of skin looked like flakey pie crust.

In many cases, he would have been considered too far gone to rehab, but “Flakes” was so loving and outgoing the humane officer took him home and nursed him back to health. That took months, and then once returned to the shelter for adoption, he sat for another few months. Rabbits are everywhere, almost impossible to place. Shelters have to euthanize most of them, because takers are few and the flow of abandoned bunnies is unending.

One day, I was at the shelter helping a friend find a dog to adopt. I saw “Flakes” and that was that: He was mine. Renamed Turbo, he was soon settled in and happy, wandering the house with the dogs and the parrot. I later went back to the shelter with Turbo, where he chose Annie as his companion (everyone neutered, of course). This time last year, a sobbing child thrust a baby bunny in my hands in a Petsmart parking lot. He became Velocity, and then there were three.

They spend time indoors, and time outdoors in a large protected play yard. Life is pretty bunny-licious.

Nobody knew how old Turbo was, since he’d been a throwaway stray. He died in his sleep on night last summer. He was my favorite, so it goes. Annie, a former “meat rabbit” thrown away by a breeder getting out of the “business,” is still terrified of being touched (and who can blame her?). Velocity is friendly and playful, but he’s not as outgoing as Turbo was. Still, I love my rabbits, and make sure they’re well cared for, with room to roam, fresh hay, green vegetables, toys, treats and more.

Don’t get a bunny if you’re planning to simply throw the animal in an outdoor hutch. Don’t. Please don’t. You’re not being fair to the rabbit, and you’re missing out on the opportunity to share part of your life with a very lively, funny and loving little pet.

And remember: Pets are for life, not just until you’re bored.