Rabbit abandonments jump half a year after Easter, says rescue
About half a year after Easter, as people lose interest in caring for the animals they gave as holiday gifts, Estonia starts to see a rise in abandoned pet rabbits, said Kati Sulp, founder of the country's only dedicated rabbit rescue.
Sulp and Martin Enn run Happy Hops (Rõõmsad Hüpped), Estonia's only rabbit rescue, out of their own home.
"Starting up this shelter just sort of snowballed somehow," Sulp recalled. "Our first two rabbits were just our own pets, and somehow things just progressed from there. Basically, the more rabbits we brought home — rescued, really — the clearer it became that there are a lot of misconceptions out there today about how to keep and care for [rabbits]."
She felt it would be worth sharing more accurate information about pet rabbit care.
"Unfortunately, right now, they're being abandoned faster than we can find new homes for them," she acknowledged.
The couple set up the rescue in various buildings on their family farm.
"We ourselves need so little to live," said Enn. "All these old buildings, which are part of our ancestors' legacy, were more of a burden to us — we didn't know what to do with them, or how to make use of them. Now it all seems to have found some kind of purpose."
At the rescue, the rabbits live in enclosures, and some even live in the family home.
"Keeping rabbits in cages causes them a ton more health issues — not just physical ones, but mental ones too," Sulp explained. "They get more depressed, more aggressive. Keeping rabbits in cages stems from how they were raised for meat, but as pets, they don't need to be kept in cages."
A lot of myths persist about what rabbits eat as well.
"Carrots actually aren't good food for rabbits at all," the rescue founder highlighted. "They're just very high in sugar, and a bit difficult for them to digest."
Cabbage isn't good for them either, she added, noting that their main source of food should still be hay.
Sulp warned that giving live animals as gifts — such as for Easter — should be frowned upon.
"We're seeing a trend where, after Easter — maybe about half a year later, come fall — we start seeing a rise in abandonments," she confirmed.
"These rabbits that were brought home for Easter — sure, it's been fun with them all summer, but then the kids go back to school in the fall, and no one feels like taking care of them anymore," Sulp said. "And so people start giving them up."
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Editor: Rasmus Kuningas, Aili Vahtla
