Let pet rabbit out in the wild?

Hi:wave:

We are trying to set up an animal rescue here in Iceland (there is none in the country so far) but now in the beginning we are mainly focusing on rabbits.

I frequently search the Icelandic animal forums to find rabbits in need and we have built a website and people are starting to contact us, both to get rid of rabbits or looking to adopt.

BUT, it seems like when people loose interest in their bunnies - they just let them out in the wild! (and the Icelandic climate isn't really favourable for pet bunnies...). Is this common in Britain as well? And how are you guys dealing with it? Are there any laws against this?

I was so sad yesterday when I read a thread on an Icelandic forum from a girl who had gone out and hunted 5 wild bunnies, taken them in (this was last fall) and now she was bored with one of them and wanted to let it out again...

Thanks! I don't know what I would do without this forum
Sandra

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Well doen you for setting up a rescue

That is really sad
There are people who do this in Norway:evil: Rabbits don't belong naturally in Norway, and pets in general don't live long in the wild.

There's an island outside Norway's capital which has a lot of rabbits, and then people think they can release their pets there! (Even the original colony were domesticated, either run away or set loose) but the rabbits already there don't want strangers on their patch and kills them:evil:
One of my friends has a rabbit they found in the woods too, and talking to the Norwegian "Dyrebeskyttelsen" (Animal Protection, I'm guessing its the Norwegian Equivalent of RSPCA) they've caught a few rabbits on the loose

It must be the same here. There is an island (the westman islands) in the south where there are a lot of rabbits - and they are shooting them (700-1000 bunnies a year:shock...

A lot of people here think it is ok to release a pet rabbit into the wild or to let it have free range of the garden 24/7. But like in Iceland, we have foxes here, who are just waiting for a chance like that. Our winters are milder than yours, but a rabbit needs some kind of shelter in any weather. They might also get poisoned by eating the wrong plants or get killed by dogs. But these people don't have enough brain to think that far.

I hope your rescue will be successful and you will be able to help many animals. Do you also offer holiday boarding? That could give you a little bit of money to help with the rescue.

Sandra said:

It must be the same here. There is an island (the westman islands) in the south where there are a lot of rabbits - and they are shooting them (700-1000 bunnies a year:shock...

Click to expand...

That's a lot of bunnies:shock: Truth to be said I don't know how many there are on Gressholmen, some do get shot, but they can't get all of them and when people keep dumbing more un-neutered pets we're back to square one.

Sandra said:

It must be the same here. There is an island (the westman islands) in the south where there are a lot of rabbits - and they are shooting them (700-1000 bunnies a year:shock...

Click to expand...

Wow, that is a lot for such small islands. Do they eat the rabbits then or what happens with the meat? I can't remember seeing rabbits in Iceland. Just lots of sheep and horses.

Well, if it is the exterminator who does it then he can't eat them but they often let private hunters do the job and they eat them:roll:

Yes we are thinking about offering holiday bording The problem is that we are just in the beginning stages of raising money and I know that the city of Reykjavik doesn't think that there is a problem so it might be tough to find appropriate housing... (I think dogs are still banned from the city center so they aren't really animal friendly to start with...). The laws on having pets in general stink... And there is no animal protection whatsoever. So - a lot of work to do

A lot of people in the UK think it's 'kinder' to release a domestic rabbit into the wild than it is to give them to a rescue :roll::roll:

Sooz said:

A lot of people in the UK think it's 'kinder' to release a domestic rabbit into the wild than it is to give them to a rescue :roll::roll:

Click to expand...

Well I don't know just how well a domestic rabbit thrives in the UK wildlife but being Norwegian I'm a firm believer that it's kinder to put the rabbit to sleep than to let it loose to possibly face starvation or being hunted and killed by a fox (also; with rabbits not being a native species those that do survive could cause problems to the local wildlife, dare I mention Australia?)
Note: I'm not saying I would rather kill a rabbit than give it to a rescue or rehome it though. If for some reason you can't keep a rabbit rehoming would of course be the best.

ZakuraRabbit said:

Well I don't know just how well a domestic rabbit thrives in the UK wildlife

Click to expand...

Generally not very well for not very long.

I have never known of anyone releasing a pet rabbit into the wild but you would think (or hope at least) that people would realise that domesticated means just that.

Well done you for setting up a rescue against all the odds, and I agree that maybe holiday boarding would be a good way to raise some cash (and awareness)...

keep up the good work

I have. When I was a teenager I got 2 dwarf rabbits from a local breeder, my friend saw them and wanted one so bought their brother, she had no hutch or anything so I gave her our spare one. She then started to get bored and spoke about releasing him. I said and my parents said if you ever get rid of him give him to us, do not release him. We only lived over the road so not far to go either.
What did she do, she travelled a few miles away with the rabbit in a box and released him in the wild. She went to more effort to release him then she would have done to just walk him across the road

Some people seem to be under the impression that a pet would be happier out in the wild.
Its like animal rights activists who release foxes and minks from furfarms.
Now I don't agree with fur-farming, but these animals are just as much domesticated animals as our rabbits (I've seen foxes colored like husky-dogs...certainly this breed can't have good camouflage)
I once heard of a case in Norway where minks were released by activists, a few weeks later they were shot for taking domestic chickens, as they couldn't hunt wildlife for themselves.