binkyCodie thank you for writing this - I am relatively new to rabbit keeping, but all my animals are kept as ethically as possible, and with as much choice in their lives as I can give them - even down to the ponies choosing whether and when to be ridden and when to stop. So I look at the rabbits with the same eyes, and have worked hard to learn as much as I possibly can to make sure their needs are met.
This does mean that they don't appear to be as playful, cheeky, characterful at times as other giants - or as affectionate. But Odin made it quite clear after 3 weeks that he needed a fulltime friend, so we found one for him as soon as we possibly could.
It makes me so sad reading the giant group fb posts, because the majority seem to be kept as single house rabbits - basically a rabbitdog. That is what the people want. They aren't interested in the rabbits genuine needs and wellbeing, and every other post is complaining about littertraining/hay going everywhere/"cheeky"/"naughty" behaviour, that I just see as a rabbit being a rabbit! Then the next post is about telling them off when they nip or headbut, screeching, a multitude of ways to keep hay nice and tidy. For many of them their only option for eating hay at all is sitting in their litter tray - which to me isn't acceptable for a grazing animal.
But the thing that's gets me most is that the behaviour of single rabbits are seen as the best, and those with bonded pairs, or those who have them outside, think theirs are inferior. Yes, I would love to have my rabbits fall asleep in my lap, groom me all the time, play with toys - because it's cute and it meets MY needs. But I would never want that at the sacrifice of my animals, and as you say it is a false bond, a forced bond, that comes because they have no choice. And now my two are really happy together, we have become a much greater part of their lives on their terms, we get groomed, they sleep in front of us, they seek us out even when they have the whole garden to roam.
I dearly wish that everyone would keep rabbits in pairs wherever it was possible - allowing for the odd rabbit who genuinely doesn't bond, and for those times between partners - for their mental health. It must be torture.
Why can't us so-called intelligent humans see that their "playfulness" and "loving" often comes from frustration, desperation, loneliness?