The Easter bunny is the cute, fluffy symbol of Easter. Yet the ugly reality of how these intelligent animals are commonly bred and kept in the UK is a world away from the idyllic image we’re all familiar with. Since adding the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund to our client list, we’ve experienced this first-hand, and it’s been both shocking and also very inspiring.
As a leading pet marketing agency, we’re already too aware that pet ownership has its darker side. While most of our work centres around the positive fluffy stuff, any charity collaborations inevitably reveal some of the sad stories we’d all rather not see and read about.
Within minutes of our first meeting with RWAF CEO, Rae Walters, we learned that the UK is currently experiencing the worst rabbit rescue crisis ever. Alarming reports suggest that up to 100,000 rabbits now end up in UK rescues each year and new data shows that thousands of rabbit breeders are operating at a commercial scale without licenses. One identified group of 435 sellers produced at least five litters in one year.
The heartbreaking truth that we’ve also learned very quickly, is that rabbits get a pretty rubbish deal generally. For some reason, this favourite ‘first pet’ is not entitled to the same level of protection and welfare rights that dogs receive, even though evidence suggest some breeds are equally intelligent. It’s also strikingly obvious that there is an almost complete lack of understanding of their very basic welfare needs. As a result, the vast majority of these gentle, pack animals live lives that can only be described as torturous. No hyperbole here, before you wonder if it’s the PR machine on overdrive.
For starters, rabbits should never be housed alone. They are sociable animals that need the company of others to thrive. They also need space to express their natural behaviours - running, jumping, digging, chinning (to name a few). Yet a depressing number of them will end up housed alone in a hutch, long after the novelty of bringing them home has passed. For up to twelve years. Imagine if that was a generally accepted standard applied to dogs? You probably can’t because it would never be allowed to happen on such an industrial scale. The very fact that you are still allowed to walk into a pet shop and buy one lone rabbit is testament to a complete lack of responsibility when it comes to animal welfare.
This Easter we wanted to help RWAF in its tireless quest to educate the public. We also wanted to amplify its message to the UK government that rabbit breeding laws must now be tightened so that are on a par with existing dog breeding legislation. It’s literally a matter of life and death for pet rabbits – and their lives really do matter.
Our broadcast campaign hit at a timely moment, reaching 40 million ears through a combination of national and regional TV and news and radio. The stats were brought to life by the inspiring charitable organisations and volunteers working on the front line all across the UK. These are the dedicated animal lovers who are taking in increasing numbers of unwanted rabbits they can barely cater for and venturing out at all hours to rescue the ones being dumped in parks, woods and by the roadside.
This campaign was just the beginning. We have fingers firmly crossed for a game-changing new campaign later this year and we’re not going to stop there. In the meantime, we’d urge every animal lover to read up on rabbits and always adopt. Never buy.
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