Rabbit Haven reports that Copper, the rabbit saved from euthanasia, is settling in nicely at his new permanent home with the rescue. Experienced bunny volunteers are already making progress getting Copper socialized with humans. If all goes well, they hope that after he’s neutered, he will form a bond with a spayed female rabbit as well.

From their press release:

On Monday, November 23, 2009, Kathleen Olsen, Executive Director of the Tacoma Humane Society, agreed to allow Rabbit Haven of Gig Harbor, WA., to take Copper. Copper was picked up and brought to Rabbit Haven by Sue Brennan, the rescue’s founder. “We are thankful that we could work with the Tacoma Humane Society to find a solution for this very famous rabbit,” said Brennan. “The Tacoma Humane Society does wonderful work and has found homes for many bunnies and other animals, and we’re grateful for what they do. At Rabbit Haven, we have bunny specialists well-equipped to handle even the most terrified and anxious rabbits, who sometimes bite out of fear and because they’ve been so mistreated in the past. Copper is a healthy, rambunctious teenage rabbit who will get the love and care that he needs to turn into a good house bunny.”

“This was a potentially sad story that had a very happy ending,” said Brennan. “House rabbits are wonderful, intelligent pets with great senses of humor. They can be litter-trained, do tricks, and more and more families are finding out how fun it is to share their homes with a house rabbit. We hope that Copper’s story will inspire more people to learn about house rabbits, and to support the work of animal shelters.”

Copper has already started to show progress at Rabbit Haven. Under the care of highly experienced rabbit experts, he has even started to ‘purr’ when held (rabbits purr by chattering their teeth.) At Rabbit Haven, Copper will continue receive the attention and care he needs to recover and learn to trust and socialize with humans. He will be neutered and, if possible, he will eventually be ‘bonded’ with a spayed female rabbit, as rabbits are happiest when they live in pairs and groups. Rabbit Haven will continue to work with local rescues to find homes for abandoned and mistreated rabbits.

For more info, visit Rabbit Haven’s website.

Copper purring in the arms of Chris, one of Rabbit Haven’s most experienced volunteers.

A story about a rabbit scheduled to be put down after biting a shelter volunteer has gathered attention from around the world.  Copper the rabbit was living at the Pierce County Humane Society in Tacoma, Washington. A few days ago, he bit a volunteer so severely she needed to seek emergency medical care.

The shelter decided Copper must be euthanized.  Although scheduled for death yesterday (Sunday), the unavailability of a vet to perform the euthanasia procedure bought Copper one more day.  After an outpouring of protests and pleas from rabbit advocates worldwide, the shelter officials finally agreed today to let Rabbit Haven of Gig Harbor, WA take Copper in as an alternative.

For more info, see:
KATU.com
KomoNews.com
TacomaKomo
Rabbit Haven

Megan from Luv-A-Bun has kindly shared an update about the 34 rabbits they rescued in Lake Worth, Florida:

The babies are 4 weeks old in the pix and the adults are doing fabulously after everything they went through. Notice the bunny that has a heart on its side!

We have a pair traveling to a rescue in TN this weekend via the Bunderground Railroad and another pair going to a rescue in Tampa Thanksgiving weekend. It has been so heart warming to meet so many nice people who all share the same interest of helping the bunnies.

Thanks Megan and Luv-A-Bun for all your hard work!

Many of us grew up on Beatrix Potter’s classic Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny stories, and therefore equated rabbits as being native British animals.  However, a new book by naturalist Christopher Lever reveals that actually European rabbits were first introduced to Britain by the Romans. By 1150 AD, the rabbit populations had stabilized, and rabbits became common dwellers on the British terrain.

For more information, see: The Telegraph.

Buy The Naturalized Animals of Britain and Ireland from Amazon »

A generous donor has agreed to match donations up to $5000  to the House Rabbit Society until Thanksgiving (November 26, 2009).  The money raised will go towards the Emergency Rescue Grant, a program that supports shelters involved in large rescues of many rabbits.

Recently the fund benefited the Luv-A-Bun Rescue in their rescue of 34 rabbits from a trailer in Lake Worth, FL.

Congratulations to Sweet Binks of Rhode Island for adopting out its 1000th rabbit today.  The lucky bunny is called Maggie.

For more info, see: Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue.

The Luv-a-Bun Rescue in Lake Worth, FL has recently taken in 34 bunnies rescued from a mobile home. The rabbits were crammed into 3 cages jammed with both living and dead rabbits.

Several of the rabbits were relative newborns and many had never been able to hop due to the cramped conditions.

The recently taken in rabbits have been spayed and neutered by local veterinarians Renata Schneider and Stefan Harsch free of charge.

Visit the Sun Sentinel for more on this rescue.

The Vancouver Rabbit Rescue and Advocacy in Vancouver, Canada has just released their 2010 calendar. The calendar is made up of submitted photos from rabbit-lovers. We submitted a few pics of Coco and Cosette, but we doubt they made the final cut.  Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go toward running the rescue. The calendar will soon be on sale, but a preview is available now on the VRRA website. Visit the site to check it out, www.vrra.org.

The Columbian Basin pygmy rabbit has been on the state of Washington’s endangered species list since 1993. The population declined so much that biologists took in the last 14 wild rabbits to create a breeding program.

Among the institutions collaborating in the breeding program is the Oregon Zoo, which has been breeding Columbian Basin pygmy rabbits since 2000.

This year the zoo welcomed 26 endangered kits, or baby rabbits. This brings the total to 73 kits for the year among all the breeding programs.

Read more about the program at Zoo and Aquarium Visitor.

Although it may sound like a plot point in a comic book, there is actually radioactive rabbit poop in Hanford, Washington. As it happens 50 million gallons of liquid waste laced with radioactive salts were dumped in a radioactive reservation in  Hanford more than 40 years ago. The dumping area is home to many jackrabbits. The rabbits’ warrens abut some of the dumping sites and the rabbits often lick the radioactive salt.

Recent stimulus money has aided the clean-up of the rabbit poop, which has trace amounts of radioactivity. Previously, large swaths of earth were dug out and disposed of to rid the area of the radioactive poop. Now, a helicopter is used to spot and map the piles of poop for crews to come in and clean up.

For more, visit the Seattle Post Inquisitor.