When Mel Thomson got her first rabbit at the age of seven, she had no idea she would one day build an 18-foot shed in her garden to house dozens of the animals.
But that’s exactly what the now 38-year-old from Kinghorn went on to do.
The mum-of-two – who currently has 53 bunnies in her care – has rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed more than 300 unwanted and neglected rabbits across Fife.
Kinghorn mum looks after 53 rabbits
It all started 10 years ago, when a local asked her to take in their family rabbit (the kids were already bored of it, they said).
Mel, who runs Mel’s VIPs – a dog-walking and pet-boarding business – was known in Kinghorn for her love of animals.
She said: “I just thought, ‘Ach, why not?’ At that point I had another two rabbits, they were my pets. So in came Benjamin – my first rescue rabbit.
“From then on it escalated. I started posting the rescue rabbits on Facebook and it grew bigger.”
Rabbits cost Mel thousands of pounds
Mel has funded the rescue project out of her own pocket, spending more than £4,000 getting the male rabbits neutered last year alone.
She has even reconfigured her garage and built an 18-foot shed in her garden to accommodate the pets.
But the local community has also rallied around her, supporting her occasional fundraisers and donating hutches and cages over the years.
Kind neighbours also often leave bags of hay and vegetables for the bunnies on her doorstep.
‘Sometimes I wonder how I will buy the next bag of food’
Mel said: “Some of the rabbits don’t make it because they came in such horrific states – it can be heart-breaking.
“And just when I am about to give up, something lovely will happen – I’ll get home and there will be a huge bag of food waiting on my doorstep.
“Sometimes I do wonder how I am going to buy the next bag of food.”
Man ‘threw neglected rabbits by the ears’
Indeed, Mel has rescued rabbits from some dire situations.
She recalled: “There was a man who had six rabbits which he was no longer interested in. He had been using them for breeding, but he’d had enough. So he called me and asked me to take them in.
“I was full at that moment, but I could hear the urgency in his voice.
“He said he really needed them gone – and I could tell he meant that he was going to do something bad. So me and my son drove along to collect them, and the six of them were all in this one little enclosure.
“The man picked them up by their ears and threw them at us. They were not in the best health – they had overgrown nails and runny eyes.”
Mel nursed the rabbits back to health and has since rehomed four of them and kept two as pets.
On another occasion, she rescued 16 rabbits in a single day from a property in Kirkcaldy. The pets had no straw, no food, and were found lying in their own faeces.
This is why she always carries out house inspections before giving a bunny up for adoption – to ensure they are going to a loving family.
Kids love mucking in
Single mum Mel also has two kids to look after – Ellie, 10, and Casey, 6.
What do they make of it all?
“My son loves them a little bit more than my daughter at the moment,” Mel laughs.
“Ellie is at the stage where she wants to spend more time with her friends and all that.
“But Casey loves coming out, doing the cleaning out, mucking in. And he does the feeding and the watering. He knows exactly what to do.”
It’s essentially a full-time job – one that often finds Mel shovelling hay at 1am – but she shows no signs of slowing down.
She said: “It’s hard work, but it is so, so worthwhile.
“I’ll be at my wits end one day and the next thing I know there will be a message from one of the supporters on the Mel’s VIPs Facebook page saying ‘Well done. We’re so proud of what you’re doing’.
“Things like that make me think, ‘Okay – lets keep going.'”
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