In Olinda, the rabbits are breeding like rabbits, and it’s causing a few problems

Impulse gift-giving peaks at Easter and Christmas, and that is not great news for pet rabbits.

Judi Inglis is the president of Olinda’s Rabbit Run-Away Orphanage. She told the Eastern Melburnian that at these times the orphanage experiences an increase in surrendered rabbits.

“Often, people that sell rabbits aren’t that experienced in the species, so they’re not giving the people that come to buy a rabbit the right information on them,” she said. “People don’t realise they are a 10-year commitment and they’re not a child’s pet.”

In Victoria, 58 percent of adults own a pet and there are an estimated 1.4 million Victorian households with a pet. However, there is no official data on rabbits, even though they’re known as a popular pet choice. 

Rabbit Run-away Orphanage, Victoria’s first no-kill not-for-profit rabbit rescue organisation, was founded by Inglis in 2003.

Rabbits are available for adoption, and a foster program was recently launched.

“We had two rabbits wander into our property,” Inglis said, explaining the service’s origins. “We went around the neighbourhood; no one owned them, so we kept them.

“We had another two arrive in about two weeks, and then we found another one. Then we had another two turn up at the back fence … obviously someone was breeding them, and they were just getting out.

“The last two, we took them to the local rescue, and they killed them. That was enough for me, I was traumatised.”

Inglis said many animal rescues that deal with pet rabbits don’t have mechanisms in place to deal with incoming rabbits with health issues.

“I think all animals – like humans – have a place in the world,” she said. “If we are going to breed animals as pets, we need to be able to support them so they can live long lives as well; not kill them because it’s too hard. Pets should not be disposable animals.”

Not long into the interview, Inglis received a call from a mother who bought pet rabbits from an online shop as Easter gifts for her family, but soon realised she was allergic to them.

Currently, backyard breeders can operate without a permit or registration. 

“I have an issue with the breeding and sale of pet rabbits, because the government doesn’t have strategies in place around the breeding and sale of them, even to the extent that councils won’t even take them in,” Inglis said.

“If the rabbit is desexed, vaccinated and micro-chipped, and it is sold at a place where people are experienced in the species, there’s not an issue.”

Rabbits – both pet and feral – fall under the Catchment and Land Protection Act.

Inglis has been campaigning for the State Government to include pet rabbits under the Domestic Animal Act. 

“All we can do is try and lobby government to put some checks and balances in place”, she said. “If people want to breed their animals, they need to register them. We’re here picking up the pieces of their poor decisions.

“When we can’t even get councils to take rabbits in and re-home them, what hope have we got?” 

She said the orphanage was “picking up a section of animal welfare that Victorian councils should be dealing with on behalf of their communities”.