BOUGHT vs ADOPTED rabbits

[Whitesnowy]

I’m curious what is the percentage of BOUGHT vs ADOPTED rabbits in the country/area where you live?
And what is your opinion – should a person ever buy a pet?

[Ava]

I haven’t got a clue what the adopt vs buy percentage is here. If I had to venture a guess, it would be 99% buying. A few months ago I did happen to see an article about an animal shelter that actually talked about this situation and was actively trying to educate people about adopting rabbits. It was a pleasant surprise because I had thought there wasn’t any place one could adopt a rabbit. Unfortunately it’s in a city too far from my place. If/when I do decide to get a rabbit again (I decided against getting a rabbit until I find a rabbit savvy vet), it will probably be from a similar place I got Alvin (avatar pic) from, a shop that sells a variety of small animals, that may or may not end up as a pet. So, yeah, I have and would again buy a pet rabbit.

[LBJ10]

I think it depends on where members live. Some areas have A LOT more rabbits available for adoption than others. Where Jen (BB) lives, there are hundreds of rabbits in shelters. Where I live though, you’re lucky to see two or three at any one time at the local animal shelter. There are no rabbit rescues here. My husband wanted a rabbit and we looked at the human society, but they must have been going through a dry spell because they didn’t have any rabbits for months. So yes, Leopold came from a feed store. It was a chance thing. We happened to be there for something else and there were some Holland lop bunnies there. My husband fell in love, so I couldn’t say no. Wooly, on the other hand, came from a coworker looking to rehome.

In an ideal world, all pets would be adopted. I definitely think people should look to see what’s available first. But sometimes there aren’t a lot of resources, depending on where you live. Purchasing a rabbit doesn’t mean you will love them any less and I suppose that’s what’s most important at the end of the day.

[Mikey]

It also depends what you consider to be buying and what you consider to be adopting. Adopting can be seen as getting a rabbit from a shelter or from a breeder. But at the same time, you are still paying for the animal so you are buying it by default

My town doesnt have any bunny shelters. The closest shelter is maybe 2 to 3 hours away. We have a petstore nearby that gets all of their animals from breeders, and has the breeders information on hand should it ever be needed. There are of course pet stores nearby who get their animals from ‘somewhere’ that cant be completely trusted

As long as the animal is bought into a better home, i consider it a win. Its not the animals fault where or how it was born, and it still deserves a good loving home

[Azerane]

I would say that the bought percentage is extremely high here. The shelters have rabbits, but not a great many, and there’s only one rabbit rescue in the whole state that not a great deal of people know about. Many would come from pet stores, or online selling/trading sites. I think it’s getting better for rescues though, with social media and online communities sharing information about rescues and where people can adopt from. In the past month I’ve seen a number of people on facebook post about how they’re looking for a rabbit and want to buy one, and half a day later after many suggestions they’re applying at rabbit rescue to adopt

For me, knowing I have other options, I would never buy a rabbit from a pet store or someone who happened to have a litter/backyard breeder etc. However I have no problem with researching and buying a pet from a genuine breeder. If you do thorough research, it starts to be pretty easy to tell if you’re looking at someone with a proper interest in the breed, the rabbit’s welfare etc. vs someone who happens to have some purebred (or not) rabbits and breeds them. Ultimately, if ALL pets were adopted, they would all go extinct, as it implies that there would be no one buying from breeders, so dog breeds etc would disappear and you’re left with all pets only coming from adoption places, they’d all be spayed or neutered, so no more babies. All you would be left with is the dodgy backyard breeders. While I highly value adopting from a rescue, if the only option for buying from a breeder was from a dodgy breeder, people would still do it, they do it now, even with genuinely ethical breeder options.

[Bam]

We don’t have rabbit shelters/rescues here, but we do have lots of rehoming ads on our equivalent of Craig’s List. It just breaks your heart to see. “I don’t have time for my rabbit anymore so I’m selling it. It’s 6 months old.”

We have a rabbit wellfare society now though, started only last year. They’re trying to raise awareness about rabbits. I went to a feed store, part of a big chain, just the other day and their section for rabbits surprised me: They only had bunny-appropriate treats and toys. No yoghurt drops or dried corn-cobs. I was really glad to see that. I didn’t check their whole assortment of bunny food though, so I’m not sure if there were müesli, but I saw they had Fibafirst and Science Selective. Progress!

[Reesebun]

I bought Reese. We were at a pet store getting cat stuff, and I always went to see the bunnies because I was obsessed with them. When I was looking around, I saw this tiny cage about two feet long with 3 bunnies in it. There were 2 huge Californian rabbits sharing food and water (there was no hay in the cage) and they looked like healthy rabbits. The other rabbit was this tiny Netherland dwarf kit (that looked like it got taken away from its mother too soon) that seemed to not be getting any food or water, the cali’s were guarding them, and would not use it’s right back leg to hop. I had to buy it to save it! I don’t see what’s wrong with buying a rabbit in a scenario like that!

[Azerane]

You make a good point ReeseBun, I just hate the thought of actually supporting a store that would have an animal in that condition, and actually paying them for it. I understand saving the rabbit from a bad situation, but it bothers me that the store essentially gets rewarded for it 

[BunnyFriends]

Here I’d say 90 percent adopt. This is partly because there are loads of shelters, and because the pet stores just don’t carry rabbits.

The other 10 percent finds a breeder because they were looking for a show rabbit. That’s big around here.

[MoxieMeadows]

I have no idea what the Bought vs Adopted rabbit percentage is, but I know that the bought percentage is way higher.

[Reesebun]

Posted By Azerane on 11/12/2016 5:56 AM

You make a good point ReeseBun, I just hate the thought of actually supporting a store that would have an animal in that condition, and actually paying them for it. I understand saving the rabbit from a bad situation, but it bothers me that the store essentially gets rewarded for it 

I think so too. After buying Reese, I have never gone to that pet store ever again.

[Bam]

ReeseBun, Reese was really lucky =)

[Author]

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