Each year, the companion animal community comes together to express the importance of not buying small animals as presents at Christmas. Similar to the Easter period, according to PETA “every year parents across the UK give in to temptation and buy a rabbit for their children, vastly underestimating the amount of care these animals require”.
The UK is in the midst of a rabbit crisis with rescues full of abandoned bunnies, guinea pigs and other small animals that need to be either rescued, rehabilitated or rehomed. We caught up with The Bunnyjackpot Foundation who are a foster based rescue in the South West of the UK, on the importance of not buying small animals for Christmas!
As set out by The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund, “A Hutch is Not Enough” and it is important that before gifting small animals this Christmas that you understand the love, dedication, care and welfare that it takes in order to look after rabbits and other small animal’s correctly.
Image: Ex-The Bunnyjackpot Foundation bunny, Philadelphia, with a TBF beanie available to purchase through the rescue!
Small Animals require a lot of love, attention and care - it isn’t an animal’s job to teach responsibility!
Below is a story of one of The Bunnyjackpot Foundation’s rescues, Dexter, who was rescued around the festive period last year:
Last year, we had several strays come into us over the festive period - undoubtedly some of these rabbits were bought as Christmas presents and their families had an awakening to the reality of the responsibility of rabbit guardianship.
One of these strays was Dexter and we’re really grateful that HayDay has given us this opportunity to share his story. Dex was found wandering around the streets of Staffordshire with a big abscess on the side of his face - and with absolutely no street smarts. How he survived as long as he did we’ve no clue! It took a few months of medical care to manage his wound site, neuter and vaccinate him. Luckily Dexter managed to find his way to a member of the public and then to us at TBF, where we rehabilitated him and rehomed him to an amazing, savvy home with two other rabbits as friends and companions.
Dexter’s story could have been avoidable if pet shops (big chains or otherwise) and breeders didn’t sell rabbits. The cycle will continue forever whilst rabbits are so accessible to the general public without any robust home checks, whilst proper care isn’t made mandatory and improper housing or husbandry items are still sold.
Image: (From right to left) Luna, Axel (ex TBF) and Dexter (ex TBF) happily in their forever home.
What You Can Gift Instead of Rabbits for Christmas
A Cuddly Toy Alternative
A cuddly toy is guaranteed to have your child beaming from head to (mistle)toe on Christmas day. Until your child is old enough to understand responsibility and the time and care it takes to care for a rabbit or a guinea pig, this would be a great alternative.
Sponsor A Companion Animal
Like a lot of rescues with long term residents who just aren’t healthy enough to rehome, The Bunnyjackpot Foundation has several sanctuary residents available to sponsor. Each sponsor receives a hand made china heart, a certificate and updates on their sponsored animal.
Donations To Small Animal Rescues and Charities
The season of giving! Small animal rescues and charities are battling the rabbit crisis here in the UK and donations such as hay, enrichment or monetary donations help them massively. The majority of rescues in the UK are self-funded and with your help, we can help them do even more!
More On The Bunnyjackpot Foundation…
We also caught up with the brilliant team behind The Bunnyjackpot Foundation, and here’s what they had to say!
What Does ‘A Day In The Life’ Look Like at The Bunnyjackpot Foundation?
It depends on the day! We’re a foster based rescue with animals in foster across the UK, so there’s always a lot happening in different locations at the same time.
Our HQ is based in Wiltshire in the South West of the UK and it’s here you can find one of our three sanctuary groups of rabbits: "the wonkies”. Every day each splay leg has a thorough check up, various medications are given to those who need it, vet beds are replaced and the washing machine never stops spinning! Caring for mobility-compromised rabbits relies on a much busier husbandry regime than able bodied rabbits, so at least three hours each day is spent sorting their setup and ensuring they are clean and comfortable.
What Does The Rehoming Process Look Like for Small Animals?
We rehome predominantly rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters at The Bunnyjackpot Foundation. Rehoming is something we’re very passionate about - who wouldn’t be when it involves finding some animals who’ve been let down countless times, their happily ever after!
Adoption can be a daunting thing because naturally reputable rescues want to vet the homes their fluffs are going to - and this means a whole lot of questions and the odd suggestion. It can be really hard to frame questions in a way that doesn’t make people feel like their level of care is being judged - but trust us when we say it isn’t! Naturally we want to do right by our animals and it’s important to us to be really rigorous and ensure that setups are the best fit both in type of home and security as they can be.
We find that the best homes are those who approach adoption with a view to learning, being open about their circumstances and understanding that we are just trying to get to know them! We’re very lucky that we’ve had some absolutely amazing adopters come to us from across the UK to offer some very special animals some very special homes.
To apply to adopt - or even foster - just get in touch with the rescue via social media or email, where we can begin the process with you.
How Can Anyone Help or Get Involved?
There are lots of ways to get involved in The Bunnyjackpot Foundation! The most tangible and impactful way is by adopting - expanding your family helps not only the animal you adopt but helps create a space for another animal in need.
If you can’t adopt, have you considered fostering? Fostering is a really great way of enjoying the companionship of small animals without the financial responsibility. There is something utterly amazing about seeing the transformation of an animal in your care from intake to rehome. The Bunnyjackpot Foundation are really committed to supporting our foster team: we have a group foster chat for support, we help with items needed ad-hoc, we check in regularly and have procedures in place if you need help for any reason, and we hold festive parties to celebrate the team’s successes!
If you can’t foster or adopt, fundraising is huge. We are always looking for new and creative ways to bring in more funds to support the rescue. We have a fundraising team dedicated to working out new revenues - which is open to anyone to join! - and we really love to see members of the public doing their own fundraising and supporting us.
Finally, spreading the word! We have so many animals looking for homes and run campaigns throughout the year to educate on a variety of subjects. Why not help us educate by sharing our content and spreading the word.
For more information, here’s how you can support them with rehoming, sponsoring or adopting the rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters currently in their care!
The Bunnyjackpot Foundation is an ethical rescue, rehoming small animals across the UK and who also specialises in special needs. Registered charity number: 1205634
