The dire impacts of Rabbit dumping

Fact: 2 unfixed, dumped rabbits can breed over four years to become 4 million rabbits. 

Credit Rachael

When people thoughtlessly abandon the pet rabbit their child received for Easter, their birthday, they impulsively purchased at a pet/feedstore, the negative impacts are many.  Domestic rabbits are not built to survive outdoors and they breed profusely.  Bunnies fall prey to disease, predators such as feral cats, coyotes & are often hit by cars.  They suffer malnutrition, are injured and will definitely live a shorter lifespan.

Pet rabbits housed outdoors in hutches or free roaming outdoors escape easily.  These neighborhood rabbits are often spotted over and over and returned to their owners, by well meaning finders.  If you find a rabbit on your doorstep more than once, it’s not that I am promoting bunny theft, but consider taking it to your vet and having it microchipped to yourself. That way, you don’t have to spend your nights worrying if BunBun has been hit by a car, killed by a dog or is still alive?  Many well meaning animal lovers will use NextDoor or a similar app to list lost/found pets.  It may be a good tool, also for placing an abandoned street bunny in a new home (especially in nicer neighborhoods/communities).

Credit Rachael

The photos we have posted here are of 3 local rabbits dumped in a community.  Unfortunately, rabbits are dumped at this particular spot next to a man-made lake, with grassy parklet areas. I have rescued and rehabilitated 28 rabbits from this very location.Muscovy ducks and domestic geese are also dumped here.  The lops in the photos were rescued by a good samaritan who reached out on Facebook to one of the community pages for pets.  I was contacted by an Admin on one of those pages.  There were 3 dumped lops, but brown dad ran off.  The good samaritan caught the two mom’s who each had 2 newborn kits/babies.  I stepped in to help find placements and through my network the lops went to the local shelter.  I offered to subsidize any needs they might have, foster, etc.  Unfortunately, before one of the moms even reached the shelter, her 2 babies perished.  She also died after her spay surgery.  If you look at the photo of her in the kennel (tiny white & black lop) she was a baby herself.  I went to check on these lops myself and took the photo of this very young Mom, before her spay.  So of 7 dumped rabbits, Dad’s outcome is unknown and 3 more died.  The remaining Mom and 2 babies are safe in foster. The day these rabbits were dumped, we need to note it was about 110 degrees.

When you or anyone carelessly dumps a rabbit, justifying “setting it free” it is basically a death sentence.  Those rabbits who survive and live a feral existence, immediately breed and become out of control.  2 rabbits over 2 years means potentially 2 million rabbits. Dumping rabbits is illegal in some jurisdictions, but uneducated and reckless humans find a “nice place” such as a park or anywhere and cruelly abandon innocent bunnies.

Rabbit dumping has probably increased by 4 times the amount since the pandemic.  All shelters & bunny rescues are full to the brim.  Full of small animals purchased when humans had down time during the pandemic.  Now that work has resumed, kids are bored with their bunny or guinea pig, let us set them free.  Rabbits are just a novelty for the average consumer and a throw away pet.  When you adopt or rescue a rabbit, you have made a lifetime commitment of 10-12 years.