Keeping a rabbit

[californiakeeper]

Hello all,
I have recently learned that one of the rabbits at my school’s barn is going to be butchered because it cannot be bred. My teacher told me the rabbit is one of the sweetest he’s ever met, and I agree. He’s a California white, male, and weighs about 10 pounds. My teacher said he would love to keep him, but he’s taking up space needed for other rabbits. I was told he can be adopted, but if he’s not he will be butchered. I really want to convince my parents to let me keep him, or at least foster him and give him to someone who will care for him. Although I have not personally owned a rabbit before, I have experience in handling rabbits and have other small animals at home. Please help, I want to help the rabbit but I’m not sure how.

[Cheru and Choco]

Are there any rabbit or small animal rescues anywhere in your area? Or maybe a humane society or non-kill shelter that will intake rabbits? Perhaps you could convince your teacher to surrender the rabbit to an organization such as that. Or maybe you could ask around to see if any of the organizations would be able to take the rabbit, and if you find one, let your teacher know about it. Volunteering to foster does seem like a good option, so I would try that route if your parents will let you. Hope the bun gets the help he needs. He sounds like a really nice rabbit that would make a great pet for someone.

[Sirius&Luna]

If you go to the Bunny Info section of this website, you’ll find everything you need to know about keeping bunnies as house pets. It will tell you about diet, housing and vet care. I suggest having a look through that, then showing it to your parents so they can see the kind of commitment you would all be making if you were to rescue this poor bun.

It’s great that you want to help this rabbit

[sarahthegemini]

Wow, butchering a rabbit because he can’t produce offspring? What a disgusting school.

It would be great if your parents were on board with adopting this rabbit but if they are, they need to be on board 110%. It’s common that children are given rabbits but the parents have no interest in raising the bun properly (rabbits should not be the responsibility of a minor) and the rabbit ends up miserable. There’s tons of examples of that on this forum. So if they agree to let you have this bun, make sure they are fully aware of what proper rabbit care is all about.

A no kill shelter would be great too. Contact any that are around and see if they’d be willing to take him in. You could always have a shelter look after him whilst you try and talk to your parents about adopting him.

[DarthVadar]

Write a report about rabbits and how to care for them. My parents made me do this to get bunnies, and it worked very well. It educates you on proper rabbit care and informs your parents how much work keeping a rabbit entails, while showing your parents that you are willing to work for it.

[Asriel and Bombur]

Make sure your parents are fully committed to this bunny if you bring him home. If you’re going to be off to college in a few years, make sure they’re willing to commit to his proper care while you’re away. Because even though it would be “your” bunny, you’re not independent and financially stable, so it really is their bunny. Bunnies are a lot of time and care and sometimes money.

[californiakeeper]

Thanks for the advice! I went through the bunny info section, thankyou for pointing that out.

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