As this is a house rabbit community, you’ll get a lot of positives for house rabbits! In my, and I think many people here’s, opinion, rabbits can live extremely happy and fulfilled lives indoors. I think they’re less stressed inside, its easier to monitor their health, and you have a better bond with them. They don’t need access to grass, but they do need access to hay. I don’t know how easy it would be for you to get hold of hay there, but normally horse quality hay is good for rabbits, so if there’s any horse stables nearby, that’s a place to start.

Do you know that they would have to fly cargo? I believe some airlines now let rabbits fly in the cabin. Member Q8 (who was based in Kuwait until recently, and moved her bun Chewie to Canada) can probably provide some advice, but I think Chewie did fly as cargo in the end and was perfectly ok. It can be very very stressful for bunnies, but especially if there were two of them, they would probably be ok. It’s definitely important to consider though.

Other things to consider are vets – rabbits need specialised vets, and to have two living together, they need to be spayed/neutered ideally or they tend to start fighting as they mature.

I think, since you’re putting this much thought into the poor creatures, you are the best person for them. But it’s not your responsibility, and if you think that it’s too much, it’s not on you, its on the people that put them in this terrible situation in the first place.

Hi there! I am not familiar with Dubai’s pet culture but I would be so worried that they could become feeder rabbits depending on how much the pet store is asking for them. This would make it hard for me to leave them there. The thing with pet stores is you might end up rescuing them, but there is no guarantee that 2 new bunnies won’t take their place and end up being in the same exact situation. It tends to be an endless cycle. This is why many people don’t advocate buying animals from pet stores, myself included.

I would look to see if you can find an animal welfare agency look into the condition these little ones are being kept in. That is exactly what I did when I saw a pet store here that had their animals in unacceptable conditions.

As far as flying them in cargo, I know a breeder near me that used to ship their baby bunnies successfully until the airline changed their policies. With that said that does appear to be a really long flight and I personally wouldn’t want my bunnies in cargo like that. Hopefully others who may have had their bunnies flown this way will chime in.

Edit to add:  I think having them in a house is best so that is fantastic that is what you plan on doing if you were to take them in.  I would do it no other way .

Our member Q8 lived for several years in Kuwait with her bunny Chewie, in an apartment. Then she brought him home to Canada. He flew Lufthansa Cargo. Here’s the thread about his flight home: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/166388/Default.aspx

Q8 can sadly not get on BB very much these days, but she has an Instagram account and I think she’ll be happy to answer questions. Her experience is obviously with Kuwait, but it’s at least roughly the same part of the world. Her insta handle is @handsomechewie

I will give her a heads up. 

But today BB loaded again! So here I am!

Ok, not sure how long you’ve been in Dubai, but it’s only marginally better than Kuwait as far as pets are concerned. Buns, however, are low on the sorry regional totem pole, and are seen largely as cute (when babies) disposable playthings. So if you have the resources to rescue them, yay!

You shouldn’t have any trouble getting decent quality food and hay at all times – I sometimes had bun stuff delivered from Dubai to Kuwait (was there for a decade… ooof).

Even if you find a flight out of Dubai operated by an airline that allows buns in cabin, you’d be limited to one bun only. So chances are very good that your buns would have to fly cargo. Which is totally fine if you go Lufthansa or KLM (both excellent animal handlers) and if you prep the buns well in advance with sensory desensitization routines. We can talk about this more if you decide to adopt them. Heads up: British Airways does not allow rabbits on their planes AT ALL.

The biggest pain ITA will be the quarantine once you reach the UK. You’ll have to check, but last I read up on this a couple of years ago, quarantine was longer than a month (maybe two or three) and had to be in a designated facility. This will be stressful for you. And expensive. The buns would be less stressed due to being a pair. Also, the UK and the UAE have different policies on vaccinations for rabbits. For instance, none of the bunny vaccines are available in the Middle East so I’m not sure how that would impact the importation.

Basically, being a pair, the buns will be ok in most situations. You, however, must prepare for massive amounts of red tape and conflicting information and stress. Sorry if I sound awful, but you’re in the sandbox, where things never go quite like one thinks they should logically or sensibly. And you plan to return to an island with very strict rabbit importation laws.

If you can, DM me on Instagram with any questions, since most days the BB forum simply refuses to load on any of my devices.