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The Communicator - July 2005
HOUSE RABBITS: EARTH-FRIENDLY PETS
By Amy Phillips-Gary
When people make the decision to give an animal a home, usually adopting a cat, dog, or even fish or bird are first to come to mind.
However, rabbits can make equally enjoyable animal companions. As with any pet, house rabbits do require a lot of care and even
patience. In contrast to the Springtime image of bunnies in baskets, adopting a rabbit is not to be taken lightly. However, they also
tend to be interactive, loving--and don't forget cute--creatures to share our lives with. We maintain that having a house rabbit in
your life perfectly complements an Earth-friendly lifestyle!
Bunny Homelessness
In keeping with associations between rabbits and fertility, it is no surprise that there is an overpopulation of even domesticated
rabbits. This means there are a lot of homeless bunnies out there! In choosing to adopt a house rabbit, particularly if it is from a
rabbit rescue or animal shelter, you are helping solve this problem. If you take the next step and have your pet rabbit spayed or
neutered, you are doing that much more to prevent unwanted bunnies from dying.
Green Diet
It's not likely that you'd share a salad with your dog or cat. But you can with a house rabbit. You can supply a large portion of her/
his diet with greens from your organic garden or the Clintonville Co-op Market! Our Dutch breed rabbit Buns, primarily eats
Timothy Hay (which we haven't figured out how to grow--yet) and plenty of fresh veggies.
Compost Heap Supplier
As with all animals, what goes in must come out. And yes, bunnies do leave behind lots of waste. However, you can add richness to
your compost by simply adding your rabbit's droppings--recycled paper or aspen litter included--with your kitchen and yard
waste.
Cardboard "Recycler"
Yes, house rabbits do chew. Our rabbit, Buns, is a voracious lover of books: he loves to nibble them. But when we redirect him to
old toilet paper or paper towel tubes or even unwanted (dye free preferably) papers, he munches away. When he is done with them
we can then send them to be more fully recycled.
These are just a few Earth-friendly reasons why we think house rabbits are wonderful animals to share our lives with. Bunnies are
even very compatible with most other pets as well. When taking a gradual and slow process of introduction, your house rabbit can
co-exist quite peacefully with most dogs and cats. Our home includes two cats, one large-breed dog, three fish as well as Buns the
rabbit. If you are interested in learning more about what it takes to care for a house rabbit, please visit our website at
http://www.rabbitinfocenter.com
Nutmeg.
"You can say any foolish thing to
a dog, and the dog will give you
a look that says, 'My God, you're
right! I never would've thought of
that!'"
~ Dave Barry