Photo by Emily Featherston.
Vestavia Hills resident Connie Cowan holds a young, newly rescued female bunny.
Bentley, a brown and white lop-mix house rabbit, started life in 2015 the same way many rabbits do, as a cute and cuddly Easter holiday gift.
Unfortunately, like 80 percent of bunnies purchased for Easter, Bentley was discarded shortly after the holiday when he grew larger than his family anticipated.
Last October, he met Connie Cowan.
Cowan, a Vestavia Hills resident, runs Alabama Rabbit Rescue, a newly certified 501(c)3 nonprofit looking to help rescue, foster, rehome and advocate for abandoned and surrendered domestic rabbits.
Cowan is retired, but has been working with rabbits since 2003, including through her small business The Blissful Bunny, where she makes and sells wooden rabbit castles and rabbit toys.
For a while, Cowan’s proceeds went to the Georgia House Rabbit Society, as Alabama’s chapter had fallen by the wayside for many years.
Earlier this year, however, Cowan decided to take The Blissful Bunny and start her own rabbit rescue to pick up where the former chapter left off.
Cowan said she hopes to use the rescue to educate the public on the responsibilities of rabbit ownership.
“It’s a long-term commitment,” she said, as most house rabbits can live for more than 10 years.
“That’s what people don’t understand,” she said. “You go to the pet store, and that little baby bunny is so tiny, it can’t do anything but sit in your hand. But that tiny, cute stage only lasts for about a month.”
After that, their nails grow long and sharp; they no longer want to be picked up, and without being spayed or neutered, can become aggressive.
“People tell me over and over that they had a rabbit, and it was so mean,” Cowan said. “Hormones at about 4 to 5 months old make them territorial and aggressive.”
Cowan said she discovered this firsthand when her daughter brought home a female rabbit, Mopsy. After a few months, she said Mopsy began to bite and scratch to the point the family was unwilling to go near her. After doing some research and getting her spayed, however, Mopsy became a calm and gentle rabbit.
“They do make good pets for the right home, but you need to research before you get one,” she said.
Eventually, Cowan said she hopes the rescue will be able to start a low-cost spay and neuter program to encourage rabbit owners to go ahead with the typically expensive surgeries.
She said this would hopefully prevent a majority of rabbits from being surrendered to shelters or “set free” outside, both of which she said almost always end poorly for the rabbit.
Cowan said the House Rabbit Society’s research indicates rabbits are the third leading animal surrendered to shelters behind cats and dogs.
The Greater Birmingham Humane Society reported receiving 43 rabbits in 2014, 45 rabbits in 2015 and 15 rabbits as of June 30 of this year.
An important step toward reducing the numbers, Cowan said, has been getting around the idea of rabbits being “impulse purchases,” and said many local pet stores have stopped selling rabbits for that reason. To adopt from the rescue, families and individuals are required to take a “Bunny 101” class to learn what it takes to responsibly care for a domestic rabbit.
These days, Bentley is completely litter box trained and recognizes his name, and Cowan said he spends most nights stretched out, asleep in front of her fireplace. Often, he will even greet visitors at the door of Cowan’s home.
“Rabbits are so much smarter than people know,” Cowan said. “It’s how much time you spend with them.”
She said that’s why she is in such need of volunteers to help rescue, foster, feed and just socialize with the rabbits. Soon, she said she hopes to find a facility where they can set up a “rabbit center” to house and care for the rabbits in an environment that will be easier for volunteers and those interested in fostering or adopting rabbits.
She said they should soon finalize the rescue’s status as a chapter of the national House Rabbit Society and change the name to Alabama House Rabbit Society.
For those interested in helping, but who cannot foster a bunny or rabbit, Cowan said the rescue is in need of website help, gift cards to buy produce and willow branches she uses to make toys for The Blissful Bunny.
“We know that we cannot save them all, but we can change one life at a time,” she said.
For more information, go to Facebook.com/AlabamaRabbitRescue or alabamahrs.org.
