The SF Gate has a nice article on the joys of having a pet rabbit and traces the origins of The House Rabbit Society. The society was founded in 1988 by Marinell Harriman, who published The House Rabbit Handbook three years earlier.

Harriman found that there was little information out there on how to raise a rabbit as a house pet. She learned everything about indoor rabbits from her own bunny, Herman.

The article also discusses misconceptions still held by many regarding house rabbits. The article interviews a woman, Jennifer Lee, who took in her friend’s rabbit only to learn that everything her friend told her about rabbits was wrong.

Read the article at SFGate.com.

Purchase Marinell Harriman’s book House Rabbit Handbook: How to Live With an Urban Rabbit

Join me on Bunni Island here

Here’s a cute and addictive game featuring bunnies. It’s similar to Animal Crossing.

INSTRUCTIONS
- Press and hold the mouse button to move in a direction.
- Drag and drop bunnies onto buildings to put them to work.
- Drag and drop bunnies onto your character to make them follow you.
- Plant flowers so your bunnies don’t become hungry
- Harvest gold and wood to buy better items

Nicole from designcuriosities created this fantastic indoor hutch using repurposed furniture from Ikea.

Disappointed with the housing options available for their bunny Eames, Nicole and her boyfriend set out to make something that would complement the furniture they had.  The result is a stylish and modern hutch that any bunny would be proud to call home.

For more photos and instructions visit Design*Sponge.

No, not those Playboy bunnies. Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, a marsh rabbit subspecies named for Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, has been on the endangered species list since 1990. Current estimates claim that there are only 300 of the rabbits left in the wild. The rabbits live in an island environment and feed on specific grasses and plants. Human encroachment has resulted in habitat loss and deaths by domestic animals and cars.

Fortunately, researchers at the University of Central Florida have stepped in to aid the rabbits.  They are researching the genetic diversity of the rabbit population. They believe that the more diverse the genetic population, the greater chance of adaptation and survival. They hope to determine the most genetically diverse group of rabbits and relocate them to an undisturbed area to foster population growth.

This subspecies of rabbit was named for Mr. Hefner when it was discovered in 1984 to honor the donations made by his organization for field research on rabbits.

For more information visit Discovery News.

Back in May we posted about Audrey taking a tour of New London. You can also read about it from the All About You Blog.

From Connecticut, the Audrey clone traveled across the country to Bow, Washington.  You can read all about her adventures in the Pacific Northwest at A Houseful of Rabbits.  Start from the beginning of her tour by clicking the following links:

June 6: Heeeer’s Audrey!!!
June 7: Audrey’s Settling In
June 8: Audrey’s Story
June 9: Audrey Takes a Road Trip
June 16: Audrey About the House

You should also check out another Audrey clone’s travels in Kuala Lumpur with the folks at Furrybutts.

May 27: Who Dat?!?
June 1: Lunch with Audrey

Audrey Rabbit is a house rabbit living in North London. Her mom, Carol Muskoron, is an Associate Editor at AllAboutYou.com.

When Carol began blogging about Audrey, the cashmere lop quickly became a cyber celebrity.

You can read all about Audrey’s adventures on All About You or follow her on Twitter.

Audrey wanted to learn about other parts of the world, so she sent her clone out to New London, CT in the US to visit her friends at My House Rabbit.

Come see what they got up to!

Audrey meets Cosette and Coco.

Coco, Audrey, and Cosette get close.

Audrey checks out our bunny garden.

Audrey makes a stop at the statue of John Winthrop the Younger. Winthrop founded New London in 1646 and later went on to become the governor of Connecticut.

Another view of Audrey with Governor Winthrop’s statue. John Winthrop the Younger continued the tradition of his father, who was the founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony.

New London’s City Hall on State Street.

A full view of City Hall.

Audrey examines Wyland’s whale mural, The Great Sperm Whales, on Eugene O’Neill Drive. Wyland has created a hundred whale murals all over the world.

Audrey poses with the statue of Eugene O’Neill as a boy. O’Neill, who spent his summers growing up in New London, used to sit by the Thames River and sketch the ships. O’Neill is the only American playwright to win a Nobel prize for literature.

Audrey takes in the view at the State Pier.

Audrey at the Customs House Maritime Museum on Bank Street. The museum focuses on New London’s rich history as a whaling and shipping port.

Audrey at the gate of the Hygienic Art Park.

Audrey takes a seat on Bank Street.

Audrey visits the New London Superior Court.

Audrey’s last stop was the Nathan Hale statue in Williams Park.  After Nathan Hale graduated from Yale, he was a school teacher in New London. He was way ahead of his time by teaching girls in 1773.

Hope you enjoyed Audrey’s tour of New London, CT!

Next stop: Bow, Washington to visit our friends at the House of Rabbits!

Co-editor P.A. Smith and I are attempting to start a little bunny container garden.  Our goal is to grow romaine and other dark leaf lettuce in one planter, and since they’re a favorite of Cosette, I thought I’d make another planter dedicated to dandelions.  We are fairly new to the world of gardening, but we’ve made LOTS of compost from the rabbits’ litterbox contents, food scraps, and leaves from our yard, so we thought we’d give it a shot.

So for Phase 1 of our plan, P.A. constructed a 4′ x 4′ square bed and along with a 4′ x 1′ rectangular garden box from some wood scraps.

4′ x 4′ Square Planter for Lettuce

4′ x 1′ Rectangular Planter for Dandelions

If anyone has experience with container gardening or growing lettuce, we certainly welcome any tips!

Okay, it might not be an actual, living, breathing bunny, but it means the world to 3 year old Sophia Ottaway. Her mother has been placing fliers all over Hobart, Tasmania seeking out Cryie, Sophia’s stuffed bunny.  Cryie is one of a trio of rabbits that accompany Sophia everywhere she goes. The other rabbits are Roughy and Smiley.

Cryie fell out of a pram while the mother was walking her children to meet their father for lunch.  Upon discovering her bunny was gone, Sophia said ‘Mum, I have lost my rabbit,’ and started to cry.

A retracing of their steps turned up nothing, so her mother took to the streets with fliers.

A reward has been offered for Cryie’s return.

For additional information: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/02/25/57551_tasmania-news.html

For whatever reason, we received multiple emails this past week pertaining to pet rabbits having messy bottoms.

So check out our new article, Poopy Butt: Causes and Treatment.

An estimated 7000 feral rabbits are currently living in Helsinki. These former pets and offspring of former pets are spreading into other regional areas in efforts to find land enough to sustain them. The rabbits have been destroying park land and local vegetation in their quest for food.

Few natural predators and mild winters have added to the population growth. Arno Kasvi, head gardener at Turku University’s Botanical Gardens, has called for a culling of the rabbits before the population becomes unmanagable.

Additional article: http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/02/urban_rabbit_population_explodes_554379.html