'More awareness needed for rabbit welfare', says Swansea rescue centre
The Carrot Cottage Rescue Centre says they're looking at waiting lists of over a hundred rabbits over the Easter break
As Easter approaches, the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) is calling for stronger rabbit breeding laws, following reports that up to 100,000 rabbits end up in UK rescues each year.
Despite their popularity as pets, the association says:
"The UK is currently experiencing its worst rabbit rescue crisis,
...leaving shelters overwhelmed and struggling to cope with the growing number of neglected, mistreated, and surrendered rabbits. It’s a world away from the cute Easter Bunny image".
Christopher Baratt, from Carrot Cottage Rabbit Rescue, says Easter is his busiest period.
“Around the Easter period, a lot of rescues don't rehome rabbits, because it's such a huge time when people give rabbits as gifts to children and family members.
“And the three months after Easter are usually huge within rescues.
"Around eighty five percent of rabbits given away as Easter gifts end up in rescue or being released into the wild, which they can't survive like that because they've been domesticated.”
When asked on how his rescue centre is keeping up with the increase demand, Christopher said:
"Currently we're experiencing around three to four surrender requests a day.
"Some days this has been as high as seven and we're just expecting it to get worse and worse now after Easter.
"We’re looking at waiting lists of over a hundred rabbits.
"We are prioritizing emergency cases only at the moment and we're desperately just trying to work through the waiting lists.