HRN Spotlight: Where do HRN Bunnies Come From?
I am often asked on the hotline “where do the bunnies come from?” Although tempted, I have never made a snarky remark like “well when a mommy bunny loves a daddy bunny…” It is a good question — How do the bunnies get to HRN fostercare? Our website has a few mentions of large rescues – law enforcement cases and ‘dumps’ [into the wild]. Our website also mentions that we do not accept rabbits from the general public. These do not explain fully how a rabbit ends up with HRN.
There are several routes a rabbit might take: Law enforcement/ACO, strays and shelters. The most common of these is the shelter route. As any “bunny person” can attest to – rabbits are a LOT of work and most people don’t realize this at the beginning. Once their cute baby bunny begins to require work and the hormones kick in, they find themselves unprepared. Even worse, the rabbit may have been a gift, which means the owner is even less able to care for the rabbit. Generally, these rabbits end up at a shelter because the owner does not know what to do or does not want to spend the money that is necessary to spay/neuter the rabbit, which ultimately “fixes” many of the issues the owner is having.
Ending up at a shelter is lucky, considering what some people decide to do with their unwanted rabbit(s). Sometimes people ‘release’ them into the wild. This is a death sentence and the average lifespan of a domestic rabbit in the wild is less than 48 hours.
Not to mention, releasing a domestic rabbit into the wild is a crime in MA, punishable by law, if the person is caught. Craigslist is another risky option. Hopefully, the rabbit will find a good home, but s/he may just end up in the hands of another ill-informed home.
If offered for a low price or free (free is not allowed on craigslist anyway), then the rabbit may end up as snake or human food, dog fighting bait, a lab rabbit or worse.
This is the sad reality of a “FREE Small Animal”.
Ok, so now the rabbit is at a shelter – what happens next? Most rabbits are not spayed or neutered (and often those hormonal behavioral issues are why the rabbit became a nuisance and are surrendered), so they may be spayed/neutered in preparation for becoming ‘adoptable’. Supply is far greater than demand for rabbits. Therefore, the rabbit might sit around for a while at the shelter, if lucky. Other times, the rabbit is only given “a certain amount of time”, or if there is a medical issue or the rabbit is deemed “unadoptable” due to looks, such as pink-eyed white rabbits, euthanasia is a grim reality for these little guys. Sometimes, area rescues such as House Rabbit Network are called to see if we can take the rabbit. Other times, that call is never made. At any given time, HRN has a “wait list” of sorts. Rabbits waiting to come in from law enforcement situations, animal control officers and surrounding shelters. We try to pull in as many as our foster home space allows, but this is not always the case. We do our best though.
Once we do pull in a rabbit, they enter our foster home system and are then scheduled for a spay/neuter/vet check, if not already done so. Our foster home parent(s) then work with the needs of the rabbit, such as socializing, medical care, learning to trust humans again, etc. We provide daily care and TLC for that rabbit until s/he is adopted. Sometimes, this can take up to a year or longer. We have several rabbits in our foster homes now that have been with us for well over a year! Once adopted, hopefully into a “forever home”, another spot opens up and we can pull in yet another rabbit that is in need our of care.
THIS is where the HRN bunnies come from.