Don’t Abandon Your Bunny: Spay/Neuter!

Our domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are derived from an ancient line of the wild European rabbit. European rabbits live in warrens (a series of underground tunnels excavated by family groups) in an established territory. A domestic rabbit who has been abandoned in a park that looks inviting and safe to a human has been sentenced to a cruel death

** s/he has no warren in which to hide from predators or from the elements

** s/he has no family, and if there are already resident feral rabbits in the area, s/he will most likely be attacked ferociously because she is not a member of the warren.

** If s/he survives the threat of predators, cars, humans running their dogs and other immediate dangers, s/he runs a high risk of succumbing to parasites, disease or starvation.

Turning a rabbit loose in a wild area is not much different from turning a human loose, naked, in the most dangerous neighborhood in town. Don’t consign your rabbit to such a fate.

A domestic rabbit depends on human care. No matter how appealing a “natural” environment appears to a human, the most likely outcome of a rabbit turned loose there is suffering and death. Before you consider abandoning your companion rabbit to “the wild” or to a shelter when he or she matures and becomes willful and difficult to manage, give him or her a fair chance to be a wonderful companion: have him/her spayed or neutered. You will experience one of the most delightful, intelligent, loyal, affectionate and entertaining friends you could hope to know.

original copyright 1998 by Dana Krempels
Updated August 2009

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