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What age do most rabbits end up in rescue?

Sooz

Wise Old Thumper
I get about 90% between 18 months and 3 years and 95% between 1 and 3 years :? Is it that the cute factor has gone after a year and that after 3 years people still have the outdated view that bunny should have dropped dead by now? :cry:
 
This is the break down from those currently available on RR

641 Total

205 < 1yr
196 1yr
147 2yrs
44 3yrs
33 4yrs
11 5yrs
5 6yrs
1 7yrs

I dunno if people round the age down to fit in to the younger age groups in the RR search tho :?
 
I dunno if people round the age down to fit in to the younger age groups in the RR search tho :?
I wonder if that's true with the so-called strays as well.

I've seen a number of oldies handed in to rescues i.e. 2 x 5 year olds (people moving house and couldn't accommodate in the new house); Rusty who the children tired of at 7 and Molly at 11 who had been in rescue for 5 years. I think Tamsins right about peeps being surprised they haven't dropped dead by that time :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
I think most kids are around 6 - 8 yrs old when bought a rabbit, so once they start secondary school and their interests change to teenage ones (snogging :roll: ) the parents are left with an unwanted bunny, if it's lasted that long :(
 
It's true.
Three of my friends saw my pet rabbits and wanted their own. This was when we all had just started secondary school.. All three, typically in my opinion, went out and chose the extra cute looking rabbits... One had a lop eared, fluffy white buck, one had a pair of lops - who turned out to be one male, one female, and so produced three live babies, and the third friend got two netherland dwarves on impulse, and their dog killed one within hours. So they went and got a lop.

Now the friend with the white fluffy lop left it in the care of two of the most spiteful girls I've ever known, who left the door open to his hutch. He was never found, but chances are he was eaten by something. The friend with the buck and doe lost all interest in them, left them wit her dad... He struggled to care for them. The buck got flystrike and had to be put down. The other three 'went to a sanctuary'. The lop and netherland dwarf are still alive... I think. The lop grew really big, and my friend didn't like her as much as the tiny netherland. Last I heard, the lop was left in her dad's care and had become paralzyed. Their vet doesn't know what's caused it, had never heard of E. Cuniculi and my friend 'doesn't know whether to pay to have the rabbit put to sleep, as it might be against her morals...'

I was the freak who got a rabbit, was utterly devoted to the rabbit, and still is devoted to her current rabbit... Comparitively speaking, if human males were anything like my bunny, I might have more interest in them... :roll: Unfortunately, I'm more interested in the bunnies than 'normal' young people activity type things...
 
Do you think that the poor summer weather is having an effect on the numbers being given up at the moment :?:

The 9 buns I took in on Sunday were given up because their 8 y.o. owner wasn't caring for them properly, which I thought was odd seeing as it's the start of the school summer break.
 
I think as kids get older, families like to go abroad and on holiday more too - most people honestly think rabbits live about 3 years max, and most people never plan even one year ahead.
 
Do you think that the poor summer weather is having an effect on the numbers being given up at the moment :?:

The 9 buns I took in on Sunday were given up because their 8 y.o. owner wasn't caring for them properly, which I thought was odd seeing as it's the start of the school summer break.

My neighbours rabbit hasn't been out of its hutch for weeks and weeks :( When I was battling against a thunderstorm last night, their daughter was laying on her bed watching TV - rabbits just get forgotten too easily as they are quiet - I doubt her daughter even owns a pair of wellies.
 
The 9 buns I took in on Sunday were given up because their 8 y.o. owner wasn't caring for them properly,

that's very odd. If that owner has taken care of the bunny for 8 yr., there has to be some sort of bond btwn. them.

Personally, I can't understand how can anyone just "surrender" their pet, whether it's a rabbit or a dog or some other pets. Once a rabbit has live w/ a certain someone in a house, there is a friendship form btwn. them. I just can't understand how it is possible for any human just to cut off that friendship and be so cold to drop off their companion to a rabbit homeless shelter.
 
I got my first bunny when i was 13, it went from having one bunny to 6 in a year, I went out with my mates quite alot but still had time for all my babies The last bunny died 2 years ago so he was quite old, It took a couple of years to talk my o/h into letting me have another bunny but now i have got my 2 babys and i am happy
 
Its sad - especially when they give up older ones - poor things dont know whats happening to them - at least going to rescues they generally end up in better homes... A lot of its impulse buy I reckon - especially at easter ... you get a baby bunny and its very cute - the bunny gets big :roll: *as it does* and a few months of cleaning and enjoyment factor have gone and hey ho - bunny needs new home... JUST ONE OF THE MANY EXAMPLES! :(

I wish people would think before getting an animal needing care - Snowflake was my first bunny, and I had read about bunnies and thought about it for months before I even saw her. Doesnt take too much just to find out what they really need.
 
I kept both my childhood bunnies for the duration of their lives, Honeycomb I got at around 7 years old when she was already 5, I was devoted to her (even though she was a spiteful moo) and spent all my time with her.

I got Rowan when I was 10 and he lived for 5 years but I have to admit between the ages of 14 and 15 I neglected him emotionally and I still regret it to this day because he was one of the best natured rabbits I have ever met :cry: Up until I hit 14 that rabbit was everything to me.
 
I can believe that most rabbits in rescue are between 6 months and 2 years old: I guess by then the cute baby factor has gone and the novelty wears off :cry: Some of the rabbits in the shops round here are tiny and they are indeed very, very cute. But baby bunnies grow and it infuriates me that people can't imagine that or even plan beyond the next few months :roll: :cry:

I suppose I was lucky growing up: seeing my mum run her rescue made me very aware from an early age that many, many animals are not treated with the kindness and respect they deserve. Since then I've always been mindful that I - and I alone - am responsible for the welfare of my animals and I'm constantly reassessing how I keep them and (hopefully!) improving all the while.
 
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