A recent news story out of Minnesota highlights a potentially serious problem in many suburban communities around the US:  pet rabbits, acquired during the pandemic, are being abandoned outdoors and are now multiplying.

According to Debbie Mans, the CEO of Rabbit Rescue of Minnesota, the number of abandoned rabbits she’s now seeing is unprecedented.  Photographs and reports of domestic rabbits roaming around neighborhoods are flooding into her rabbit rescue organization.

She suspects that people began acquiring rabbits during the height of the pandemic in 2020, without doing their homework on how to keep and care for rabbits.

“They’re not what you call a lap pet, most of them, she says.  “They’re not for kids, they’re not starter pets and they do not belong in a cage.  They need to run; they need to have at least a minimum of four to five hops in an enclosure.”

She also thinks people may have underestimated the cost of owning a rabbit, which can be up to $100 a month for food alone.

Rabbit Rescue of Minnesota normally fosters around 40 rabbits at any given time.  They now have 140 rescued rabbits in their care, with 80 more waiting for foster homes.

Interested in becoming a foster caregiver for homeless pet rabbits in your area?  Debbie says you only need a 4 x 6 area of your home to care for a foster rabbit or two.  Check with your local animal shelter or rabbit rescue group to see if rabbits in your neck of the woods need a loving foster home.

Watch the news video here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGHPtRRAr7o&w=560&h=315]