Via commentor Origuy:
A while ago, I posted a note about PAWS for San Jose Animal Care Center looking for funds to build more display cases for rabbits up for adoption. Right now, they need help.
Help is urgently needed for 28 rabbits who were confiscated from the backyard of a San Jose couple who were planning to move out in less than one week! The couple bought two unfixed rabbits two years ago. There was little food and water in the blistering summer heat… With the help of three dedicated volunteers, 28 rabbits were humanely captured and transported to the San Jose shelter and a temporary holding site. These bunnies despite their past life are gentle and sweet. Some are in need of emergency care. The shelter only has room for 11 rabbits right now. Emergency fosterers, supplies, and funds are needed.
Not a rabbit expert, but as I understand it they do just fine as indoor / apartment pets. Hopefully those BJ commentors who are knowledgable can answer any questions people might have.
Origuy
Thanks, Anne Laurie. I’m not a rabbit owner, but my friend Natasha works with this group and asked me to spread the word. A while back, they worked to trap and adopt domesticated rabbits that had been released in a park in San Jose. People think that rabbits can survive in the wild, but ones that have been bred and raised as pets cannot, any better than dogs or cats.
WereBear
Rabbits are awesomely sweet and can be litter trained. Mine got along great with cats. Dogs, especially large dogs, may not.
Damned at Random
My neice had a pet rabbit for many years. He was very sweet and played with baby toys. He also loved to be held and petted.
cathyx
It sounds like they were breeding like rabbits.
Downpuppy
There’s always the Kos option.
JPL
The rabbits in my backyard eat my garden. I have nicknamed my yard Warren, GA. They are cute though.
jharp
Where I used to live in the country in Ohio a neighbor had a “Rabbits For Sale” sign along with “to pet or to eat” subtitle.
Not kidding.
Downpuppy
Was it the one in “Roger & Me”?
Amir_Khalid
@Downpuppy:
It’s hardly appropriate to bring that up when we’re talking about pet rabbits. Many years ago, one of Malaysia’s flakier agriculture ministers tried to promote rabbit meat. It didn’t take off, because of the cute problem. (There are parts of Asia where puppies are considered meat animals. A discussion of traditional Asian puppy recipes probably wouldn’t suit this blog either.)
Downpuppy
Rabbits are rabbits. When They’re a Pet, they’re a Pet all the way. But 28 poorly socialized critters taken from somebody’s back yard? You can go Vegan, or you can live in the world where humans are omnivores.
goblue72
Lapin a la moutarde is absolutely delicious.
harlana
downpuppy: from what I have heard and seen, I believe you are right. They need to be held and loved when they are babies and they will make a great pet. If not, they will be wilder and will flip out if you try to hold them.
Why are people such idiots?
Davis X. Machina
@jharp: Had one like that in Maine near my work — “Rabbits for Pets/Or Take Home Frozen”. The old Canadiens and Italians loved ’em.
Downpuppy
People are mostly “idiots” when we choose not to think through things.
Which is often a good choice, because usually we either think our way to an unresolvable contradiction, or miss a step & end up with nonsense.
mcd410x
Still the best reviews for an Amazon product evar. NSFW.
RoonieRoo
I had pet rabbits when I was in college since I lived in apartments. My rabbit Leo lived for 13 years. He was litter box trained and slept on the end of my bed. He was a great apartment pet.
I later got Hannah a female and Alex a french lop. Leo and Alex were fixed to prevent the baby rabbit problem. Hannah would go through periods of deciding she was pregnant and would rip all her fur off her stomach and Leo and Alex’s heads and made a nest.
They got along fine over the years with cats and dogs that also came to live with us. They were great pets. Not real high up on the intelligence ladder but they are very sweet.
kindness
My dogs get along fine with cats because I’ve make ’em. I’m not so sure I could separate my dogs from rabbits, and that isn’t in a good way.
Sko Hayes
I walk my dog around town every morning, so I get a good look at people and their pets. One neighbor has this huge black and white rabbit that hangs out in the backyard with two dogs and several cats.
Other neighbors who farm for a living bought two rabbits for pets from a person showing them at the county fair a couple of years ago, and it seemed within a couple of months there were at least 8 rabbits in that hutch. You’d think people that farm would know about rabbits, but I guess not. Anyway, the female was spayed, and the other bunnies wee given away, so they’re back down to two again.
I’ve eaten rabbit before and was not impressed, but that could have been because the person who cooked it wasn’t all that great of a cook.
Litlebritdifrnt
Sko Hayes
While I would never advocate eating PET rabbits, one of the most popular dishes at my Uncle’s restaurant was Poachers Pot.
It was basically rabbit, quail, venison and a couple of other things (partridge, pidgeon?) braised very slowly in a rich red wine sauce. The customers could not get enough of it.
Here is a recipe I found
http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipebook/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=822&Itemid=28
S. cerevisiae
litlebrit, that sounds delicious. I grew up on wild game.
jl
Poacher’s Pot sounds like it might be good. I had rabbit a few times in the past, and do not remember anything particularly distinctive about it, either good or bad, as opposed to grouse (very very good) and venison (ranging from fantastic to borderline inedible)
Except this bit might be a problem:
2 Pigeons, halved
People who have experience with awful looking ‘elder street squab’ in urban areas around here would not eat anything called pigeon, especially if it is really pigeon.
But that is easy to fix, you just change the name in the recipe to squab or rock dove (but that has the cute problem)
Amazing facts about pigeons below (looked up while verifying that squab were in fact baby pigeons, which I can never remember because I like squab so much, and hat pigeons so much)
http://www.deterapigeon.com/21-amazing-facts-about-pigeons.htm
ruemara
I had a pet rabbit in college. Possibly the sweetest, coolest beast imaginable. He used to ride to Tom’s Diner in his bread bag and sit in the shopping cart when we went grocery shopping. If you’re patient and kind, rabbits are wonderful pets. I am also sure they are tasty, but I’ve never had any, see above.
Also, too, kitten. Still not sure about a name. Right now, JC, John Coal, Kitty, or Wobbles the Wonder Weaver, are top candidates.
Tehanu
I too had a pet rabbit in college and he was very sweet, but you do have to watch out for two things: they eat the covers off paperback books and the insulation off electric cords. Gotta watch ’em when they’re out of the cage. Otherwise they are pretty good pets and very little trouble.
Redshift
This is not necessarily the case, it depends on their living conditions. Our Baltimore-Washington House Rabbit Society took in a large number of rabbits from a hoarding case where the people had two un-neutered rabbits, and a year later they had 78, living in a townhouse. They are amazingly sweet and sociable, and they were definitely not all held as babies.
However, there’s a difference between sociable and “likes to be held.” Most domestic rabbits don’t like to be held — birds of prey are among their natural predators, so they have strong instincts against being picked up. Most will happily socialize on the floor, where you don’t have to fight that instinct.
Redshift
Oh, and people who talk about recipes on a thread about rescuing rabbits are assholes. I don’t care if you grew up eating game, or what experiences you’ve had, this is not the place for it. There’s something wrong with you if you can’t see that. Go ahead and talk about dog recipes in one of John’s dog threads and see how far you get if you don’t think so.
Mister Papercut
@ruemara: Sweet! I was hoping to see a kitty update, poor little boo. :)
Maura Cavaleri
I’ve owned pet rabbits for years. I would only echo that if you allow them free access thru the house, wrap your electrical cords. They give off a smell that rabbits like and when they bite down, they can be electrocuted. I learned this the really hard way and lost one. :( Other than that, they were litter trained and loved to be held. Very sweet pets.