The RSPCA is urging people to consider carefully whether they can meet the commitment to own rabbits after dealing with the latest abandonment in Manchester.
Seven rabbits were left in a cage and a cat carrier, which was discarded in an alleyway behind a house in Agnes Street in the Levenshulme area of the city.
A member of the public called the animal charity after spotting the cages on the afternoon of April 20 and moving them into her back garden.
Their owners have not been traced and RSPCA animal rescue officer Lee Ferrans collected the unwanted pets and took them to RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital where they were vaccinated and underwent health checks.
Currently, animal centres run by the RSPCA and other small animal charities are bursting at the seams with abandoned and unwanted rabbits. The numbers of rabbits arriving at RSPCA animal centres increased by 48% to 1,090 in 2022 compared to the previous year. The charity’s branches also dealt with 1,942 unwanted rabbits during 2022.
The surge in numbers has, in some cases, been caused by overbreeding and the RSPCA urges owners to promptly neuter their rabbits to keep numbers down. It also advises those who are struggling to keep their pets because of the pressures caused by the cost of living crisis to seek help before taking drastic action like this.
Animal rescue officer Ferrans said: “People think it’s easy to look after rabbits, but there’s a lot more work involved. It may be the case that this large number of rabbits has proved to be too much for someone after they started off with just a couple.
“People need to neuter their rabbits and they also need to research what it takes to look after them properly before they take up ownership.
“Six of the rabbits were in one cage and there was another in a cat carrier. Neither the cage nor the carrier were large enough to accommodate them, although they probably hadn’t been living like that before they were abandoned.
“This is not an unusual job for our inspectors and animal rescue officers at the moment – I myself have dealt with three or four rabbit abandonments in recent months.”
After being given a clean bill of health following their ordeal, Lee took the bunnies to a private boarding home in Lancashire from where they will be rehomed.
Cruel abandonments of pets like this continues to rise. Last month (April) alone, the RSPCA received 1,508 reports to its emergency line about an animal being abandoned. That compares with 1,370 abandonments for the same month last year, marking a rise of 9.6%.
People can find advice about neutering and caring for their rabbits on the RSPCA website.
