The owner of a Fife rescue centre has told of a rabbits crisis – with some pets threatened with death or left to rot by their owners.
Mel Thomson, who runs Mel’s VIPs in Kinghorn, says such incidents have become the norm as the number of unwanted and neglected rabbits has soared since Covid.
The 38-year-old is currently looking after more than 70 rabbits, many of whom have suffered serious neglect.
And with a long waiting list, she says she is in desperate need of new homes for the bunnies, as well as funds and donations of rabbit food.
Mel fears the problem will only worsen as Easter approaches – with major chain Pets at Home putting a halt to sales this weekend.
‘By the time I got there, one was already dead’
In February, Mel was alerted by a member of the public to two rabbits in need in a neighbour’s garden in Kirkcaldy.
Mel said: “I headed out there as quick as I could but by the time I got there, and I opened the cage to get them out, I found that one was already dead.
“It had been dead for at least two or three days. It was completely emaciated – just skin and bones
“The other one was still alive – she was beside the dead partner.
“There were was poo everywhere and no food, no water, no straw, nothing.
“She was deflated. She was physically in a terrible state and mentally traumatised.”
Mel took the bunny – which she named Hope – home, and she has since doubled in weight and “come out of her shell”.
And last July, Mel rescued 16 rabbits in a single day from another property in Kirkcaldy.
She said: “They had no hay, no straw, and they were just lying in their own poo. It was disgusting.
“I managed to get them home. They were underweight, some of them had bad injuries from when they were fighting – males can fight to the death when they’re not neutered.
“Their nails were atrocious, really long, they were curling back into their skin.”
Man ‘threatened to kill rabbits’
On another occasion, Mel says a man called her and threatened to kill his rabbits by releasing them into the woods if she did not collect them straight away.
She claims that when she arrived, he picked them up by the ears and threw them at her.
She said: “It is constant. It is a massive problem. It’s just horrific, and nothing is getting done about it.
“Just yesterday, a mum and six babies got handed in. Every single one of them has urine stains on their paws.”
Mel, who also walks dogs, has funded the rescue service almost entirely out of her own pocket for a decade, but says that due to the rise in unwanted rabbits since the pandemic, this is no longer sustainable.
The cost of neutering 40 male bunnies last year was more than £4,000 alone.
Mel says rabbits are not the easy pet that many people think.
The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (RWAF) guidelines state that rabbits should have a minimum space of 2mx3m at all times.
They are social animals which should be kept in pairs or groups, and have much more complex behaviours and needs than many people think.
Last year Mel took in 76 rabbits – and so far this year she has already taken in more than 20, successfully rehoming eight.
Mel’s VIPs is not the only recue with a long waiting list for taking in unwanted rabbits.
According to RWAF, the UK is experiencing the worst rabbit rescue crisis to date.
Conversation