August 2010

THE
• US rabbits discarded

B UN OL O GI S T •
•
Adopt me!
Life at the Do Hop Inn
Good news for UK rabbits
Your FREE monthly rabbit newsletter •
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What’s News? Worthworths are RABBIT FREE!

Since finding out that Coles
Driver avoiding rabbit crashes into pond supermarkets are selling rabbit,
26 July 2010 – Austrian Times (Austria) we contacted Woolworths
supermarkets to enquire about
A young woman had a narrow escape as she drove into a rabbit.
lake – after trying to avoid a rabbit.
We are very happy to report that
Heike Geiblinger from Rohr in Upper Austria’s Krems Woolworths supermarkets are
Valley steered her car into a pond next to the road after rabbit meat free!!!
spotting the rodent in her headlights yesterday.
We hope they stay that way!!
She only suffered minor injuries after ending up in the
water, while her Fiat was wrecked.

"I managed to get out of the sinking car through a side

window in literally the last second," said the 20-year-old.

**Rabbits are NOT rodents. They are lagomorphs. (BOING)

Radical Rabbit
Our new group Radical Rabbit
Mr Rabbit for PM is growing & developing rapidly.
11 August 2010 – Herald Sun (Australia)
Radical Rabbit aims to educate
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has denied she's the community about all the
deliberately slurring her speech in order to call the many issues that face rabbits.
opposition leader "Mr Rabbit" instead of Mr Abbott.
Radical Rabbit now has a draft
The Prime Minister appeared genuinely perplexed when website that is growing &
asked today if she was lengthening the "r" of "Mr" in order changing –
to call her opponent "Mr Rabbit".

"Mr Rabbit? What do you mean," she said when asked mid-
way through an otherwise serious interview: "Is the Mr
Rabbit deliberate on your part?"
ABC Radio's Jon Faine then had to explain the issue had
been running hot on talkback radio.
Ms Gillard was genuinely surprised - and perhaps a little
hurt.
”I wasn't conscious of that at all," she said.
"If I am doing it I'm not intending to."
www.radicalrabbit.org
If you have any suggestions or ideas for the group or the
website, please email us at crusaders@radicalrabbit.org
If you feel like chatting and keeping up with news & stories
about issues facing rabbits, feel free to join our Radical
Rabbit Facebook page -
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/
group.php?gid=367977773121
 The ASPCA estimates it costs $730 a year to care for a
Summer brings glut of rabbit. The first year, it will be about $1,055 because of
$325 in capital costs (cage, litter box, spay and neutering).
unwanted, discarded A new owner will have to do some rabbit-proofing in areas
where the animals will roam, Saul said. Rabbits need to
rabbits chew their entire life — it's not a phase they will outgrow,
so cable guards and furniture leg guards will have to be
4 August 2010 – Associated Press (US)
installed.
CALIFORNIA. — Easter bunnies grow up and the novelty
Rabbits seem to flourish in mature adult homes, Saul said,
wears off. Come summer, people often just dump the
because they prefer quiet, bookish pursuits to
bunnies.
rambunctious play in rowdy homes.
That's why the number of rabbits in animal shelters across
At The Burrow, the rabbits seem to know it's safe and often
the country swells every summer.
greet visitors. One of the friendliest is Nutmeg, a cinnamon
colored red Rex with velvet feeling fur who will stick her
"We are in crisis" said Caroline Charland, founder of The
nose through the cage to be petted.
Bunny Bunch, which has 350 rabbits who need homes.
She was found alongside a road with a broken leg.
Charland tries to keep the group's rabbit count around 300,
but that isn't always possible, especially in the summer. Kill
Education is a big part of what The Bunny Bunch does.
shelters throughout Southern California will call her and
"We talk as many people out of getting a rabbit as we adopt
say: "We are euthanizing today. Can you take any rabbits?"
to," Charland said.
Domestic rabbits who make it to shelters and to people like
People who get rabbits as gifts or from a store will keep the
Charland are the lucky ones, said Betsy Saul, co-founder of
rabbits outside, where they can quickly die in heat, or in a
Petfinder.com, an online pet adoption database.
small cage, where they can become aggressive in a
confined space, developing what is called "cage rage" as
"People take rabbits out and figure they will survive on their
they protect their small area, she said.
own," and that's usually a deadly decision for the animals,
Saul said.
Shelters, rescues and animal experts all have one major
piece of advice when it comes to rabbits: Give as many
"Rabbits can die of heart attacks from the very approach of
Easter bunnies for gifts as you want next year — but make
a predator," said Mary E. Cotter in New York. She is with
them all chocolate.
the House Rabbit Society, an international nonprofit
organization that rescues rabbits from animal shelters.

The Associated Press, the American Veterinary Medical

Association and the American Pet Products Association Adopt me!
estimate rabbits are the pets of choice in about 2 percent of
American households — the same as horses. But in Name: Squiggle & Mr Bun
shelters, the animals come in third behind dogs and cats,
Contact person: Ruth at ruthybee@gmail.com
said Ana Bustilloz, a spokeswoman for SPCA in Los
Angeles. Location: Melbourne

Rabbits make good pets because they can easily be Readers might remember these two separate buns in the
trained to use a litter box, come when you call them and last newsletter. Squiggle needed to move quickly so she
will play tag, Cotter said. They are inquisitive, intelligent, found a new home with Mr Bun and has bonded very well
sociable and affectionate. with him. Both buns are now looking for a home together.

But, she warned, rabbits aren't for everyone. Mr Bun (dark bun in front) is a
handsome fellow who was found
They live seven to 10 or more years, generally they are not as a stray in Dandenong. He
good around small children, they must live indoors and waited at the pound for 8 days but
require daily feeding, grooming, exercise, together time and nobody came to collect him. Mr
cleanup. Bun is around one year of age
and is desexed & vaccinated.
Rabbits have long been used in research. "Think about
what's necessary from a research animal. They are loving, Squiggle is a 3 year old desexed
kind, trusting, incredibly domesticatable, trainable. The very female bun.
things that damn them to be such good subjects make
them great pets," Saul said in a telephone interview. If you would like to know more about this lovely couple,
please contact Ruth at ruthybee@gmail.com
 Life at the Do Hop Inn
By karen
Another busy month at the Do Hop Inn! Lulu had an
exploratory operation to find out why she was having
difficulty going to the toilet at times.
The lump that was felt near her bladder was found to be
scar tissue from her spay. The scar tissue had wrapped
around her colon and attached itself to her bladder, which
is why she sometimes was having difficulty. The scar
tissue was unable to be removed so she has since healed
from her operation and we are managing her problem with
paraffin oil as a laxative to soften her poos. Also, we are
thinking that grass hay would be better for her as her poos
are very large when eating oaten hay.
Peanut & Stuart recovered from their early morning dog
attack last month. We have now moved them to our studio,
where they share part of the room with Missy & Charlie (our
angoras).
Missy & Charlie had a major haircut!!!! It took about ten
days to shear off the thick matts on our fluffy angoras.
Long haired rabbits matt very quickly and seeds are caught
inside the fur. Missy had nasty seeds stuck under her chin
(which she often gets). Charlie had some really nasty tiny
sharp ends of hay stuck in his skin! We really need to
groom our fluffies much more often but, as anyone with
long haired rabbits would know, the matts seem to sneak
up and grow overnight!!
Anyone with long haired rabbits, or considering taking on a
long haired rabbit, should understand how much work they
are. They are not a rabbit to take on lightly unless you are
prepared to spend the time, the money and sometimes buy
the special grooming equipment needed to deal with their
thick fur.
The last bunny to come
& live with us (Ginger –
pictured left) was
desexed.
He recovered really
well, particularly since I
was concerned about
his missing bits! They
were there but never
really popped down to
see us even though he
is over 2 years of age.
Fortunately, everything
was found & now
removed. Ginger is
now happily living
indoors and we are
looking forward to finding him a girlfriend!!
Good news for UK
rabbits
3 August 2010 - http://blog.peta.org.uk
After more than a decade of
scientific research, negotiations
and lobbying by PETA and
other animal protection groups,
the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development
(OECD) has announced that it
has approved new, non-animal
testing methods for skin
irritation.
What does that mean? Until recently, chemicals of all kinds
were tested for skin irritation using painful tests on rabbits.
But now, around the entire world, the standard way of
testing for skin irritation will be to use high-tech, modern
methods – the rabbits will be spared. This really is a global
deal: the OECD produces binding safety testing guidelines
for its more than 30 member nations, representing almost
all of the world’s largest economies, and many countries
which aren’t members also follow the OECD’s guidelines.
Animal-friendly methods employ in vitro (test tube) toxicity
screening, “skin” grown in laboratories and computer
models. While non-animal methods have been recognised
as valid to test corrosivity (in other words, whether
something will permanently damage the skin) for some
time, these are the first methods to be recognised as
effective to measure skin irritation, thus allowing for a
complete assessment of skin effects without the use of
animals.
The methods that have just been adopted by the OECD
use reconstructed human skin models that successfully
reproduce the effect on human skin and allow reliable,
accurate measurements of damage in a way that applying
chemicals to the shaved, raw skin of rabbits cannot. In
addition to the pain and distress endured by the rabbits
who are used in animal tests, the OECD also considered
evidence that the animal tests do not accurately measure
whether a substance is likely to be an irritant to human skin
– in other words, these methods should be more effective
in protecting humans too.
We are particularly proud that PETA played an integral role
in this process. PETA financially supported the rigorous
scientific testing of one of the non-animal methods that
have just been approved, which helped to produce the
scientific evidence that led the OECD to approve the use of
the method. (PETA US has given more than $850,000 over
the past 10 years to support the development and
implementation of non-animal testing methods.) These new
methods will spare tens of thousands of rabbits every year
from unnecessary suffering. And that should make
everyone feel pretty good
 Why spay and neuter
rabbits
By the US House Rabbit Society
www.rabbit.org

• Altered rabbits are healthier and live longer

than unaltered rabbits. The risk of reproductive
cancers (ovarian, uterine, mammarian) for an
unspayed female rabbit is virtually eliminated by
spaying your female rabbit. Your neutered male
rabbit will live longer as well, given that he won't be
tempted to fight with other animals (rabbits, cats,
etc.) due to his sexual aggression.
• Altered rabbits make better companions. They
are calmer, more loving, and dependable once the
undeniable urge to mate has been removed. In
addition, rabbits are less prone to destructive
(chewing, digging) and aggressive (biting, lunging,
circling, growling) behavior after surgery.
• Avoidance of obnoxious behavior. Unneutered
male rabbits spray, and both males and females
are much easier to litter train, and much more
reliably trained, after they have been altered.
• Altered rabbits won't contribute to the problem
of overpopulation of rabbits. Over 15 million
adorable dogs, cats, and rabbits are killed in
animal shelters every year. In addition, unwanted
rabbits are often abandoned in fields, parks, or on
city streets to fend for themselves, where they
suffer from starvation, sickness, and are easy prey
to other animals or traffic accidents. Those rabbits
who are sold to pet stores don't necessarily fare
any better, as pet stores sell pets to anyone with
the money to buy, and don't check on what kind of
home they will go to. Many of these rabbits will be
sold as snake food, or as a pet for a small child
who will soon "outgrow" the rabbit.
• Altered rabbits can safely have a friend to play
with. Rabbits are social animals and enjoy the
company of other rabbits. But unless your rabbit is
altered, he or she cannot have a friend, either of
the opposite sex, or the same sex, due to sexual
and aggressive behaviors triggered by hormones.
• Spaying and neutering for rabbits has become
a safe procedure when performed by
experienced rabbit veterinarians. The House
Rabbit Society has had over 1000 rabbits spayed
or neutered with approximately .1% mortality due to
anesthesia. A knowledgeable rabbit veterinarian
can spay or neuter your rabbit with very little risk to
a healthy rabbit. Don't allow a veterinarian with little
or no experience with rabbits to spay or neuter
your rabbit.
Is surgery safe on rabbits?
Surgery can be as safe on rabbits as on any animal.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of veterinarians aren't
experienced with safe rabbit surgery techniques. Don't
allow a veterinarian with little or no experience with rabbits
to spay or neuter your rabbit. Using isofluorene as the
anesthetic and appropriate surgical and after-surgery
techniques, spaying and neutering of rabbits is as safe as
for any other animal.
At what age should rabbits be spayed or
neutered?
Females can be spayed as soon as they sexually mature,
usually around 4 months of age, but many veterinarians
prefer to wait until they are 6 months old, as surgery is
riskier on a younger rabbit.
Males can be neutered as soon as the testicles descend,
usually around 3-1/2 months of age, but many veterinarians
prefer to wait until they are 5 months old.
When is a rabbit too old to be spayed or
neutered?
Veterinarians will have their own opinions on this, but in
general, after a rabbit is 6 years old, anesthetics and
surgery become more risky.
It is always a good idea, in a rabbit over 2 years of age, to
have a very thorough health check done, including full
blood work. This may be more expensive than the surgery,
but it will help detect any condition that could make the
surgery more risky. This is especially important if
anesthetics other than isofluorene are used.
If you’re in Melbourne, we highly recommend the
Melbourne Rabbit Clinic

www.melbournerabbitclinic.com