Will Holding a Wild Baby Rabbit Make the Mother Abandon It

IN the early hours of New year's Twenty-four hours, every bit thousands partied into the night, one pet owner was dumping ten rabbits - including infant bunnies - on a street.

They were left to endure freezing overnight temperatures within a paper-thin box and a cage in Dartford, Kent, covered in urine and faeces.

The RSPCA has received many reports of rabbit abuse and neglect - including pets with badly matted and dirty fur — The RSPCA has received many reports of rabbit abuse and neglect - including pets with desperately matted and muddied fur Credit: RSPCA

These rabbits in Kent were found inside a cardboard box and a cage on New Year's Day without food or water — These rabbits in Kent were found within a paper-thin box and a cage on New year's Solar day without food or water Credit: RSPCA

Thankfully, they survived despite existence left without nutrient or water after being spotted past a member of the public and rescued by the RSPCA.

Stories like these are all besides familiar. Last yr, 5,451 cases of rabbit neglect were reported - upwardly by ane,000 from 2020 - and 28 per cent more were taken into care.

The RSPCA believes mistreatment is ofttimes downward to ignorance and the "debunked myth" that rabbits are an "easy and cheap, starter pet" - withal, sometimes it'due south simply wanton abuse.

The charity has told The Sunday about rabbits that were dumped in a swimming, swung around by their ears and abandoned in spots where they would be an easy meal for hungry predators.

At that place were iv,741 reports about rabbits in distress last year also, which coupled with simply 2,080 being rehomed - the lowest rate in years - has led to a "crisis", the RSPCA claim.

Dr Jane Tyson, a rabbit welfare good at the charity, told The Sun: "It'due south really upsetting to retrieve that there are people out there who damage animals on purpose.

"We have seen incidents where rabbits take been dumped, drowned and thrown around, information technology is such unimaginable cruelty."

Between 2016 and 2020, there were 811 incidents of deliberate cruelty towards rabbits, but information technology'south non always "intentional", according to Dr Jane.

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And during the first lockdown, it seems many were keen to get their hands on a furry friend - with Google searches for "Rabbits for sale" virtually doubling to forty,000 in April 2020.

Visits to the rabbit rehoming section of the RSPCA's website rose by 68 per cent between March and August 2020, compared with that same timeframe during the previous year.

Browbeaten, dumped in ponds & abandoned with wounds

Harrowing reports lay bare the dark extent to which owners will go to get rid of the pets, with cruel humans deliberately attacking and dumping their rabbits.

In the case of the x rabbits abandoned on New Year's Eve in Kent, RSPCA Inspector Kirsten Ormerod said they were lucky to have been found in time.

She said: "The rabbits were dirty and covered in urine stains so information technology was articulate they had been living in a poor environment.

"There were very young babies in there with them then it seemed similar this was a breeding situation that had got out of control."

In early December, 2 male rabbits were ditched in a "bloodstained Amazon box" at a park in Newham, London, afterward being "callously abandoned and left out in the cold".

RSPCA Inspector Chris McGreal found them in a "vulnerable and injured" state with overgrown nails and 1 had both penis and testicle injuries.

He said: "We know that people's circumstances can change which may mean they can no longer intendance for their pets only at that place is never an excuse to dump an creature like this."

Back in July, the body of a dead rabbit was plant in Westmorland Park, in Bracknell, Berkshire, after being wrapped in a towel and locked in a muzzle before being chucked into a pond.

RSPCA Inspector Malwina Gasiorek said: "Vets noted the rabbit had severely overgrown incisors, possible bruising under the left eye and a minor skin mass on a hind leg."

One rabbit in High Wycombe, London, was dumped in a garden with a broken leg and eight in Newcastle were ditched on a farm rails - they were all at risk of being eaten past predators.

One witness called the RSPCA helpline, which received at to the lowest degree 84,000 calls a calendar month, to report an owner who slapped and scrap a rabbit, before belongings it by the ears and throwing it on the ground.

Tiny cages, teeth trauma & flesh-eating bugs

Without owners having an adequate understanding of the animals, which can live for up to 12 years, they can easily become victims of neglect or even at risk of death.

Dr Jane said: "When rabbits are bought on impulse, an owner may not realise how complex they are to intendance for and what a delivery caring for rabbits can be.

"The myth that they are an easy and good pet for children has been perpetuated for years merely the reality is very unlike, they are very circuitous animals.

"They demand a lot of space to alive - bigger than traditional hutches - and to practice to ensure their mental wellbeing is catered for.

"A lot are kept in unsuitable weather condition similar hutches stacked on top of one some other, in dirty containers, with picayune to no food or h2o and ofttimes overcrowded.

"They also take a very specialised nutrition and constantly demand to swallow to wear downwardly the teeth, which are continually growing, and to ensure they are the right size and shape.

One rabbit can easily finish upwards condign 30 or 40 rabbits in no time at all and easily they tin can take way more than than that

Dr Jane Tyson

"If they don't, they grow into a curved shape, like to if your teeth grew nether your chin or over your nose. It'south extremely painful for rabbits and prevents them from feeding.

"Any impediment to eating fifty-fifty for a short amount of fourth dimension is really serious and it can be fatal as they suffer from gastrointestinal stasis.

"Then in the warmer seasons owners need to check for flystrike twice a day, which is where flies lay eggs on their bottoms and when the maggots hatch they eat the rabbit'southward mankind.

"It's really horrid and causes intense suffering, which can besides be fatal. Information technology'southward non but dirty rabbits who can be affected also, it's clean rabbits as well.'

That'due south not the only problem, as the old saying "breeding similar rabbits" is truthful beyond many owners' wildest imaginations.

Some rabbit breeds can get pregnant from three months former and give birth after 30 days, then 2 hours later going through labour can exist impregnated.

Dr Jane said: "They typically tend to give nascence at night so many owners, who aren't aware their rabbit is pregnant, can discover lots of babies and that their rabbit is already pregnant once more.

"One rabbit can easily end up becoming 30 or forty rabbits in no time at all and easily they tin can have manner more than than that."

'Impulse & novelty purchases hazard corruption'

PETA has received concerning reports too and claim "many people buy rabbits on a whim" because they look "cute and cuddly" without understanding how much care they demand.

Elisa Allen, managing director of the animal welfare charity, told The Sun: "Once the novelty has worn off, many are neglected, relegated to outdoor hutches, surrendered to animal shelters, or simply turned loose in the wild, where they have footling chance of surviving.

"Unfortunately, PETA frequently hears reports of rabbits being dumped, abused, or killed.

"Also, when confined on their own to outdoor hutches, rabbits lead lives of tranquility agony.

"They're exposed not only to weather condition extremes but also to parasites like fleas and ticks as well as industrious predators, who will work hard to suspension into hutches to set on the terrified animals."

This was highlighted last month in Arbroath, Scotland, when Laura Fraser's three rabbits were killed by a mink that escaped and got into her outdoor hutch.

PETA says but people with "necessary time, money and know-how" should prefer rabbits and preferably in a pair because they become "withdrawn and depressed if left alone for long periods".

Dr Jane agrees that families need to exercise more research earlier ownership pets merely to realise they are "unable to care for them" later on and accept to surrender them to charities similar the RSPCA.

She said: "Over the course of the pandemic, we saw a large number of people looking to become pets for a number of reasons.

"For some, information technology was them working at home or their children being homeschooled, others couldn't go along holiday and so they had more than money to spend.

"Now the pandemic is easing and we return to normal life, nosotros volition run across more than rabbits existence taken in by our teams, some who take been neglected and are in need of our assistance.

"Likewise anecdotally, we hear of fewer rabbits being homed because at that place are not enough 'good homes' for them to become to, which is really sad."

Dr Jane insists that rabbits are "wonderful pets" but just if "given the right intendance and conditions" because they "are non easy to look subsequently".

She added: "They are very active and intelligent animals and it can exist actually lovely to spend fourth dimension watching them play and explore."

If y'all're concerned about an brute call the RSPCA's helpline, which is open every day from 7am until 10pm, on 0300 1234 999 or visit: www.rspca.org.uk .