Windsor, Ontario. –
An influx of domestic rabbits has come to the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society, where staff say the number of intakes has doubled since last year.
So far in 2021, there have been 275 rabbits. Thirteen this week. Officials say it is part of a “rabbit crisis” that is sweeping (or leaping) through Ontario.
“We’re not really sure what the reason is,” says CEO Melanie Coulter.
“There is a suspicion that maybe they are pandemic pets that people could get their hands on when they couldn’t have dogs, but that’s just a theory.”
Coulter says they have searched other shelters across the province, including some in Michigan, with no luck.
“Shelters and rescues have been flooded with rabbits this year,” he says.
Rabbit available for adoption at the Windsor / Essex County Humane Society in Windsor, Ontario. Saturday, Nov. 28, 2021 (Chris Campbell / CTV Windsor)
Coulter says the humane society has rabbits available for adoption, noting that they are all spayed or neutered.
“I think rabbits are a real challenge because they are difficult to spay or neuter,” he says. “His surgeries are risky, so it is more difficult to do.”
Coulter tells CTV News that there have been some cases where more than a dozen rabbits would be delivered from a home, noting that small animals are known to multiply rapidly.
“They want that time away from their kennel, they want to have that interaction,” she says. “They have special care needs so they can make great pets, but we definitely want to make sure that people who want to adopt or bring a rabbit know what they are getting into.”
The adoption fee is $ 50 and Coulter says there is now a deal that allows two for the price of one.
“A lot of people buy a rabbit and think of it as a big hamster that they can put in a cage and it doesn’t consume too much energy,” he says. “The reality is that you should think of them a little more as vegetarian cats.”
Reference-windsor.ctvnews.ca