Put your money where your heart is

We have been working hard with lots of retailers, bringing rabbit welfare to their attention and working with them in several ways, ie improving the information on their websites and hopefully improving the products that they sell.

The retailers who have signed up to our retail charter, have pledged to help us make a difference to rabbit welfare in some way, so please shop with them when you're buying supplies for your animals. http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/walloffame.htm

We know how passionate our supporters are about rabbits, so please investigate any other companies fully and if you don't feel comfortable giving them your hard earned cash, keep your conscience clear and shop elsewhere. Companies that feel it in their till when they do something consumers dislike are likely to rethink their practices.

Good idea Ros but flawed. I'm dismayed to see that Notcutts are promoted on this page yet locally approximately 1/3 of rabbits handed in to a local Rescue came from Notcutts. (Another third from a certain national chain and a third "strays" etc.)

Of course this is anecdotal from me as I am not an official spokesperson for the aforementioned Rescue.

They do have a very tame French lop and children are allowed, indeed encouraged, to go in the pen with him. The clear message sent is that rabbits are a suitable pet for children and yet one of the biggest reasons for rabbits ending up in Rescues is that the child got bored.

Thanks for the feedback, luvabun.

Rome wasn't built in a day, as the saying goes and this is a longterm strategy. We're starting with housing, which has improved, but the lack of legislation supporting what we're trying to do to gain overall improvements from all retailers, makes it necessary to take baby steps.

We also feel that it's very important to be positive with retailers when they improve things. As has been discussed on other threads here recently, we're never going to be able to get some retailers to stop selling live pets, as things stand legally at present, so we have to be pragmatic, and make the best of the situation, and that includes acknowledging when retailers have made improvements, and pointing that up to the public, as a contrast with those who haven't. If people are going to buy from retailers, we encourage them to buy from those who are being more circumspect, than from those others who have made no improvements at all.