From NY Daily News:

It wasn’t love at first sight for Phyllis and Irving, nor was there fur flying – a good sign when it comes to bunny speed-dating.

Irving, a New Zealand white, eagerly tried to sniff “Filli” as the lop-mix hopped around the exercise pen during their two-minute exchange. Four weeks later, the love bunnies started living together in a Manhattan apartment.

Rabbit Rescue & Rehab, the New York House Rabbit Society Chapter, holds “speed dating” sessions for single buns. Owners of solo rabbits who think their pet may like a companion can set up meetings in a neutral location with available rabbits up for adoption.  (Note: All the rabbits have been spayed or neutered!)  If the fur doesn’t fly, chances are there will be a suitable match.

Read the full article here: NY Daily News.

If you have a single, spayed/neutered bunny, you can set up “speed dating” sessions with a rabbit rescue near you.  Check out Petfinder.com to find local shelters.

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.

Ollie rode for two miles while his father jogged behind. He raised 217 pounds for the rescue.

His parents are very proud of what he has achieved.

Beech Tree Bunnies was formed six years ago and relies on donations to care for its current group of 30 bunnies and 10 guinea pigs. Visit the rescue at their website, www.beechtreebunnies.co.uk.

Story source.

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

This Beatrix Potter watercolor recently sold for a £289,250, a record for a book illustration.  The Rabbit’s Christmas Party was painted by Potter in the 1890s and was sold to a private collector.

Additional Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7513296.stm

I came across this entertaining article from the UK’s The Independent which describes the author’s experience while riding the bus.

“I was sitting on a bus yesterday when a woman came down the stairs clutching a rabbit on a lead. The woman was delicate-looking and rather beautiful, and on the spectrum of eccentricities, I’d say she was in the zone of colourful characters rather than rum coves. Nevertheless, the rabbit was wearing a pink lead and a pink bow in its fur, and as she staggered down the steps with it, all the other passengers sized her up, decided she was probably a dangerous oddball, and did what British people do in such a scenario – they pretended she wasn’t there. I watched with interest because, apart from the fact that the rabbit wasn’t a dog, there was nothing odd in her behaviour at all. I found myself admiring the self-confidence of someone who was prepared to be branded “weird” and damn well wasn’t going to apologise for it.”

I can’t say I would ever bring Coco or Cosette on a bus with me just on a leash. I think I’d spend the whole time trying frantically to keep Cosette from bolting out of my arms and attempting to wriggle free of the harness. And she’d probably pee on my seat out of spite. (She’s used that tactic before.)

So Melanie is on a quest to legalize the vaccine for Myxomatosis in Australia. Currently, the vaccine is in use in the UK. (See My House Rabbit Myxomatosis vaccination article here.) Since Australia has a major ecological issue with wild European rabbits destroying native plantlife and crowding out native wildlife, the Australian government has so far refused to legalize the vaccine for domestic rabbits in fear that resistance to the disease may eventually spread to wild rabbit populations.

But for pet owners like Melanie, it means there is little hope for prevention of this incurable disease for their pets. If you would like to sign the petition to legalize the vaccine, go here: www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/make-myxomatosis-vaccine-legal.html

For more information: www.myxomatosis-vaccine.com

In Gujaret, central India, fossil hunters have unearthed small ankle bones from a 53 million-year-old lagomorph. Lagomorpha is an order comprising of rabbits, hares and pikas.

This study is significant because it shows that lagomorphs had already begun to diversify during the Eocene Epoch. This diversity in mammals has been attributed by scientists to the global warming that had occurred 2 million years earlier.

For more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7253518.stm 

Obviously I added Coco and Cosette.