June diary

This month has been more than eventful.

Mid May we woke to find that two of our outdoor bunnies (Charlotte & Billy – two of Lucky’s kids) had been viciously killed by what looked like a fox attack. We don’t want to go into it too much but I do want to warn other people in city suburbs that your bunnies could also be in danger.

All of our outdoor enclosures are heavy structures concreted into the ground, wired & insect screened all around & roofed. The thing that attacked our bunnies was vicious & dangerous. It was not looking for food but to kill. There was a lot of digging around all three outside enclosures, heavy pot-plants were knocked over & boards were ripped off walls. The thing eventually gained entry into Charlotte & Billy’s house by chewing right through the wire mesh wall, leaving a hole surrounded by its own fur. It was gone the following morning leaving two dead bunnies & four terrified survivors (in the other two enclosures).

All I can say to anyone who houses their rabbit permanently outside is to reassess the housing. If you can cut the wire with a pair of secateurs - it can be chewed through. If you can push it over - it’s too lightweight & dangerous. If there’s no floor or roof - then it can be dug under or jumped over. Be super-careful & do everything you can to ensure your bunny is safe. I honestly never thought we would have experienced this kind of vicious attack in our suburban backyard but these nasty animals are out there. There was also no previous warning and the buns had lived out there happily for over 4 years!

Since the attack, Lucky, Ruby, Hugo & Lily have moved inside the house with us.

One week after we lost Charlotte & Billy, we had to accommodate four rescued bunnies that had come to stay. With no room left indoors, we had little choice but to reinforce Hugo & Lily’s outside house for the new bunnies. Walls were boarded up with thick exterior ply, bricks & rocks were positioned to prevent access from underneath, heavy duty steel bars were installed and two metal “safe houses” were placed inside the enclosure so that the buns could seek refuge if something attacked. We now leave the outside light on & cover up the front of the enclosure each evening so that the bunnies are not visible from the outside.

We’re still nervous leaving bunnies outside but unfortunately there’s nothing else we can do at present except hope that our renovations have now made this one enclosure safe.

Princess went in for her dental xrays, checkup & had her back molars trimmed this month. Unfortunately, she has two small abscesses forming which are now inoperable. She was sent home with a bottle of Propercillin, needles & a bottle of Metacam (pain relief). My previous experience giving penicillin injections to Annabelle bunny (in 2007) was so horrible & stressful that I ended up handballing this task back to the clinic on a weekly basis. However, this time I succeeded on my first go! The new Propercillin appears to be thinner in consistency & much easier to inject which was such a relief. Princess seemed to not even notice my shaking hands as I injected the back of her neck.

On a positive note, a lovely & friendly tv crew visited us this month from the worldwide satellite and online television station Supreme Master TV. Our performance will be aired on Friday 5 & Saturday 6 June, will feature most of our bunnies and us chatting away about all things bunny.

To see our tv performance online, please visit “Animal World” – http://suprememastertelevision.com/aw/

Summer & your bunny

As I write this, the temperature outside is now in the 40's. Way too hot for a rabbit. I dread to think how many little bunnies will die this summer in Melbourne (and Adelaide as it has been even hotter over there).

Like many other animals, rabbits dig underground to avoid predators & extreme weather conditions. A rabbit does not naturally stay above ground to be exposed to high heat or freezing cold. Being left in a small hutch in the sun is certain death on a day like today.

If you have a rabbit (or any pet), please bring it inside the house. Even if you don't have air conditioning, it is much cooler inside during the hottest part of the day than to leave the bunny outside to suffer.

Rabbit saves couple from burning house

A pet rabbit saved the lives of a Melbourne couple after fire swept thought their home yesterday morning - six days before their renovations were due to be completed.

Macleod resident Michelle Finn and her partner Gerry Keogh were woken about 7am by their family pet, named Rabbit, who was causing a racket from his cage.

"Gerry only got home from work about 5.30 because he works night shift and about 7am we both woke to the sound of a thumping rabbit," Ms Finn said. "We heard windows breaking at the back of the house and got up to see what was wrong and the house was on fire."

The blaze had broken out in a back office and smoke was spreading quickly through the house.

Ms Finn said she was grateful to her six-month-old, black, floppy-eared companion for reacting the way he did in his loungeroom cage.

"He's in the cage during the night and just started thumping and running around and was trying to get out, I guess," she said. "If it wasn't for the rabbit we probably wouldn't have woken up quite as soon."

Firefighters said a smoke alarm had been removed from the ceiling while the back of the house was being renovated.

Firefighters donned breathing apparatus to get inside the house to retrieve the pet. His owners could not reach him because of the smoke.

Ms Finn said they had been renovating the house for two years and were due to finish next week.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Mick Swift said it was the first fire he had attended where the life-saver was a rabbit. "It could have been a lot worse and without the rabbit it could have been a tragedy where lives were lost," he said.

Four fire appliances and 15 firefighters brought the blaze - which was caused by a faulty electric heater - under control in 10 minutes. Damage is estimated at $80,000.

Mr Keogh, a nightclub employee, said while he and his partner faced the difficult task of rebuilding, Rabbit had also been left homeless by the fire, with his cage ruined.

Rabbits are fabulous indoor security alarms!! This story is not unheard of in the UK & US where numerous people have been alerted to danger by their pet indoor rabbit. Just another reason to have in indoor bunny!!

Bunny bites back

Published 26 June 2008 - Herald Sun

A treat turned into a trauma for 22-month-old Charlii when she was bitten by a bunny at a northern suburbs petting zoo.

Her mum, Laura Perry, feels insult has been added to injury after being refused compensation for medical bills by Darebin Council, which runs popular Cooper's Settlement at Bundoora Park.

Ms Perry took Laura to the theme park in late April and they went straight to the rabbit and guinea pig enclosure.

"My mum was in there with her. I was outside because I was looking at buying her a bunny - can you believe it?"

Ms Perry said her daughter was too scared to pick up the animals, content just to look.

"She bent down and pointed at the rabbit... and then there was an almighty scream and blood pouring out of one of her fingers, Ms Perry said.

A staff member immediately removed the rabbit and Charlii was rushed to a docter, then the Northern Hospital.

X-rays were taken and Ms Perry and her husband - who had rushed home from work to help care for their five-month-old baby - were told they would have to wait for a plastic surgeon to stitch the wound.

Distraught Charlii had to wait until 9pm - without eating - to have the surgery under general anesthetic. They stayed at the hospital overnight.

"I spent two days crying, looking at her lying in the hospital bed with her arms bandaged. I felt so guilty because I had taken her there for a treat," said Ms Perry.

She said she was shocked by the extent of her daughter's injury, and stressed she had only requested compensation for $30 spent on antibiotics and $15 entry to the park.

"It's not about the money. It's about warning other parents," Ms Perry said.

A statement from Darebin Council manager of risk services Liam McCarthy said he could not comment on individual compensation claims.

He said: "Rabbits represent an extremely low risk compared to the benefits to children to view and handle them."

He said it was rare for rabbits to scratch or bite children unless handled roughly. However, there were clear signs stating the risks.

All rabbits undergo a personality evaluation before being made available for handling in a staff-supervised areas, he said.

"Signs require that parents supervise their children at all times when handling the rabbits," he said.

This is why petting zoos are bad news for any animal. One bunny defends itself and this woman screams "compensation". What about compensation to all the bunnies tortured, poked & prodded by small children to be left permanently scared physically & emotionally? What about compensation to all the bunnies that end up at shelters & euthanased after families lose interest after a few weeks?

STOP ANIMAL TESTING!!!

Monash University conducts completely unecessary live experiments on rabbits as part of it’s undergrad science class, but you can make them stop.

Animal Liberation Victoria was contacted in early 2007 by distressed students from Monash University's third year undergraduate science course.

Students were being instructed to perform experiments on live unconscious rabbits which included:

• Restraining the rabbits on a work table, with their paws and teeth tied to anchor points
• Cutting open the rabbits' throats with unsterilised instruments and inserting a tube into their wind pipe
• Administering various chemicals into their blood stream to observe the effect on the rabbits' heart rate

At the end of the class, the rabbits were given a lethal overdose and discarded in a rubbish bin.

The students were given the option of watching a video about the procedure instead of taking part, and therefore an alternative to this senseless killing is plainly available. In fact, we believe these experiments are illegal, as the code of practice governing animal experiments in educaction states that alternatives must be used wherever possible.

Monash has refused to stop the experiments, and in a self-contradictory letter to ALV, Professor Richard Larkins, Vice Chancellor and President of Monash, admitted that students could choose to watch a video instead of taking part and that they would not be penalised or disadvantaged by doing so, and yet also claimed that there were no viable alternatives to the use of the rabbits and that the experiments were necessary!

It's important that you voice your opposition to these experiments to Monash University.

Please visit ALV's website -

http://www.m2news.com.au/handshake/link.php?n=695&t=5064113

& use the links to the right - "Tell them to stop!" - and send an email demanding that this terrible waste of life ends.

If you have trouble opening the email link, please email us at askboing@bigpond.com & we will send you all the contact info & the draft message.

Website problems

Computer difficulties can be annoying at the best of times but when a website stops opening, it's positively upsetting!!

Unfortunately, we cannot currently open the BOING website to apply updates as the system constantly crashes. We will rectify the problem when we can figure out what the problem actually is so we can update our adoption page & news stories for you to enjoy.

However, our free monthly rabbit newsletter (The Bunologist) is always available to provide up to date information & news from around the world. If you would like to join The Bunologist newsletter group, please visit this link & enter your email address - http://forms5.createforms.com/28080/form_1_1.html

Bunny Lover's Picnic (update)

As the weather is looking pretty bad for Sunday, we have plans A, B & C (just in case!).

The picnic & meetup is still on!!!

Sunday 4 November

Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

from 12pm onwards

There will be a sign left at Gate B to let people know where we will be.

Plan A - If all is well, we'll be on the Tennyson Lawn

Plan B - If a little bit drizzly or still around lunch time, we'll be eating our picnic in the Tecoma Pavillion (between gate B & C)

Plan C - If pouring with rain or freezing cold, we'll be at the Terrace Cafe

You can download a great map of all these locations from the Royal Botanic Gardens website page - http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/rbg_melbourne/visitorinfo/getting_here

We hope to see you there!!