Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary struggling to find homes for bunnies in Tweed

The message comes right before Easter when the sanctuary tends to see an influx of abandoned bunnies.

These baby mini lops are looking to be rehomed.

For years the Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary in Grafton has been taking rescue bunnies out of the Tweed region but for an unknown reason can't seem to rehome them.

The organisation has been servicing the Tweed Shire for 13 years taking stray and abandoned rabbits from the area even performing a large rescue before the council baited bunnies in 2017.

However co-founder Kim Cooney said the rescue had always struggled to adopt the bunnies out in the Tweed.

BIG BUNNY: Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary's Kim Cooney with renegade rabbit Boo.

 

"We have been taking rabbits, rescuing them out of Tweed Heads all these years and we can't rehome them there," Mrs Cooney said.

"We're taking the rabbits down to the rabbit sanctuary, down to Sydney, sending them to Melbourne on the planes, sending them to Newcastle, Central Coast.

"We can't understand why we can't rehome them in Tweed and around that area."

Rescue rabbit with her young babies.

 

She said instead they found people in the Tweed purchased baby rabbits from backyard breeders or pet shops.

"A lot of the rabbits we get in our rescue are those rabbits being purchased on impulse," Mrs Cooney said.

"They find out rabbits have high care needs and are not exactly what they thought they would be.

"They buy a baby rabbit and think this is cute and within a couple of months that's a gigantic big rabbit not desexed or vaccinated."

Toot was found abandoned on a railway.

At the moment the sanctuary has 126 bunnies in their care with 82 ready for adoption.

>> TOO CUTE: These bunnies are ready to be adopted now

With Easter around the corner there are concerns that number could increase.

 

"People buy the baby bunnies as a novelty gift for the children and as soon as Easter is over and it becomes and adult they don't want it anymore," she said.

She said some of the benefits of adopting over shopping included having rabbits already desexed, vaccinated and microchipped along with a guaranteed lifetime return for anyone who can't keep the bunnies.

Bubbly is a purebred Netherland Dwarf bunny girl.

 

 

Mrs Cooney said the sanctuary often had a much larger variety of breeds and ages than what could be bought at a pet shop.

"Most rabbits are abandoned before they're a year old," she said.

"You're getting a rabbit that is much, much nicer, they're not aggressive, they're not hormonal.

"They're house trained, they can stay in your house as a house pet."

Ozzy was rescued from a domestic violence situation. He is 11 years old.

She said new adoptees can also purchase a starter kit with everything they need for their new pet and get ongoing support from an exclusive Facebook group.

"It's just this mystery that we can't rehome in Tweed Heads," she said.

Anyone interested in adopting a bunny should visit the Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary website for more information.

Originally published as Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary struggling to find homes for bunnies in Tweed