Home > Out of the Cage! > April 2005 > Featured Alliance Participating Organization: Rabbit Rescue & Rehab: Placing House Rabbits — and Keeping Them — in Good Homes

Featured Alliance Participating Organization

Rabbit Rescue & Rehab: Placing House Rabbits — and Keeping Them — in Good Homes

Years ago, Mary Cotter volunteered at a large animal shelter where she cared for the rabbits and small mammals that came into the facility. Soon she began fostering some of the rabbits in her home. Her work with rabbits became the model for Rabbit Rescue & Rehab, NYC's rabbit rescue group that she founded ten years ago. The group is the only rabbit rescue organization that is a member of the Mayor's Alliance (which focuses on dogs and cats but also includes rabbits and birds).

Today Rabbit Rescue & Rehab cares for 30–35 rabbits in foster homes in the NYC area at any given time. Four foster homes form the core foster network, augmented by varying numbers of "satellite" foster families. Rabbit Rescue & Rehab is NYC's chapter of the international rabbit organization, the House Rabbit Society, which has chapters or representatives in 35 states as well as five countries. The Society, based in Richmond, CA, maintains a facility that houses several dozen house rabbits. The facility serves both as a home for the rabbits as well as an educational model for how to house and care for house rabbits. In addition to managing the NYC chapter, Mary serves as Marketing and Education Director for the national House Rabbit Society.

"Educating the public about house rabbits is one of the most important things we do," explains Mary. "We spend as much time counseling people about how to deal with issues around keeping their rabbits in their homes, or talking inappropriate adopters out of adopting a house rabbit, as we do finding new homes for the rabbits," she says. "For us, success sometimes means that we don't make an adoption."

While house rabbits can be ideal family members, providing appropriate care for them is oftentimes misunderstood. For one thing, taking on guardianship of a house rabbit is generally a ten-year commitment. For another, house rabbits need exercise, and therefore require out-of-cage space where they can move about. Before a home can safely welcome a house rabbit, all electrical wires must be covered, and all toxic plants be removed.

A volunteer from Rabbit Rescue & Rehab always performs a home visit before finalizing an adoption to ensure that the environment can safely accommodate a rabbit. They also offer in-house or telephone help to people who already have rabbits in the home and are having difficulty with them. "We deal a lot with owner guilt syndrome — good-hearted people who feel they have to give up their rabbits because they feel they cannot properly care for them," says Mary. But by dealing with the problems, ranging from litter box training to spay and neuter issues, these expert house rabbit counselors usually can help a family keep its beloved pet rabbit in the home.

Still, Rabbit Rescue & Rehab takes in house rabbits on a regular basis. They give priority to rabbits in shelters, and in a given month might turn down 50 to 100 requests to take in rabbits. This high owner surrender rate points to the need for educating the public about the realities of properly caring for a house rabbit. Ads like the ones featured here, prepared by the House Rabbit Society, can help to stem the tide of rabbits being turned in at shelters or, worse, released into the wild where they cannot survive.

Providing education to the public at events, such as street fairs, in pet stores, and at animal welfare conferences, is a priority for Rabbit Rescue & Rehab. But that's not all. Reaching out to veterinarians at veterinary conferences is a key part of the organization's education program. "Rabbits as companion animals are rarely covered in veterinary school," explains Mary. "We want to help more vets become rabbit-savvy."

Making Strides for AC&C Bunnies

Cindy Stutts, a volunteer for Rabbit Rescue & Rehab, also handles house rabbit adoptions at NYC's Animal Care & Control. She has worked with Manhattan's AC&C staff to establish appropriate protocols for the rabbits that enter the shelter, such as litter box training, socialization, spaying and neutering, and counseling of adopters before rabbits leave the shelter. Donna Sheridan has spearheaded a similar initiative in the Brooklyn shelter.

While the criteria for adoptions at AC&C are different from Rabbit Rescue & Rehab's, the educational component is equally important, according to Cindy. "We attempt to discourage parents from adopting a rabbit for a child. It's important that parents understand that the rabbit's care and well-being is ultimately their responsibility."

If you're interested in finding out more about house rabbit care, rescue, or adoptions, visit the House Rabbit Society's web site at www.rabbit.org. Anyone in the NYC area interested in adopting a house rabbit can visit Rabbit Rescue & Rehab's web site at www.rabbitcare.org, or Animal Care & Control of NYC at www.nycacc.org. Or visit Rabbit Rescue & Rehab and meet some of their wonderful bunnies at the Pet Adoption Festival at St. Paul the Apostle Church on Saturday, April 9!