We interviewed Rae Walters, CEO, to find out more about the organisation's work.

Tell us a bit about Rabbit Welfare and its main battles?

We are focussed only on rabbits that are kept as companions, not those who are farmed, or used in science, but there is still so much work to do. We are based in the UK, where rabbits are the third most popular pet, but still so misunderstood and mistreated. We have welfare problems relating to so many areas, the main ones being:

• Rabbits are often thought of as a cheap and easy pet,  but have a lifespan of 10-12 years.  Most only live to be 5 years old because they are not properly cared for .
• Rabbits are hugely misunderstood and many are kept alone, with inadequate housing, a poor diet, and lack of vet care.
• Pet suppliers typically sell unsuitable housing and give incorrect care advice.
• There has been a boom in unregulated internet sales. 
• The number of abandonments is thought to be the worst in over 25 years, at an estimated 100,000 animals every year.
• There is a lack of protection in legislation, and where it does exist, it is not enforced properly. Legislation needs to be improved so that rabbits have the same protection as other companion animals like dogs and cats.

What about you? Tell us a bit more about your role within Rabbit Welfare and why you joined. 

I have been involved with the RWAF for over 25 years ! I joined first as a member in 1997, then offered to help at local events giving advice, and manning the helpline on a regular basis. I became a Trustee the following year. We knew we needed to attend as many meetings and get as involved in as many things as we could because we need to raise the profile of rabbits, and that is still the case today. So I started to attend meetings and my role grew and grew. It is now a full time job! I work on the strategy to improve rabbit welfare, as well as the admin, and run the rabbit friendly vet directory.

Richard Saunders BSc (Hons) BVSc MSB CBiol DZooMed (Mammalian) MRCVS. He works with me on all of the strategic stuff and assesses all of the rabbit friendly vet applications. He has been part of the team since 2010, and we are very fortunate to have him.

When did Rabbit Welfare join Eurogroup for Animals and why?

RWAF joined Eurogroup for Animals in 2023. We had three reasons for joining

1. to keep in touch with like minded organisations in Europe after Brexit

2. as a relatively new and small organisation we felt as if we could learn from the Eurogroup for Animals network and see how it is working for change

3. to raise the profile of companion rabbits with the hope that they would be included in future legilslation

What were Rabbit Welfare's main achievements in 2023? 

• Rescue crisis

We launched an urgent appeal for people to support our breeding amnesty and sign our petition to demand government action to make rabbit breeders require the same licensing as dog breeders.

Anyone is legally allowed to breed and sell rabbits. This results in uneducated and inexperienced rabbit owners having multiple litters which they can’t look after and are too many to sell to responsible pet owners.

We believe that a change in legislation would mean an immediate improvement in the welfare of rabbits being sold, and a subsequent drop in the number of rabbits being abandoned or dumped.

Our breeding amnesty campaign calls for:

• An immediate pause in the breeding of rabbits.
• Retailers to stop selling rabbits.
• Classified sites to stop allowing adverts for baby rabbits.
• Members of the public to support rescue and “adopt don’t shop”.

We had a great deal of support for the amnesty. The RSPCA, Blue Cross, Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, Wood Green Pets Charity and Burgess Pet Care were all behind it. It was also supported by Gumtree and Preloved who both suspended adverts for new baby rabbits over the Easter 2023 period. This was a great start to the campaign and something we will build on for 2024.

• Educating and supporting rabbit owners is key to improving welfare

Our free helpline is open to everyone, from rabbit owners to concerned neighbours alike. In 2023 the helpline received around 2,000 phone calls.

Every 12-18 months we print 50,000 of our comprehensive rabbit care booklet: On the Hop. These are sent to vet practices and rescues, given out at shows and events, and sold on our website. On the Hop is also available as a free download.

The ‘Good Practice Codes for the Welfare of Pet Rabbits in England’ was launched in 2021 and revised and relaunched in 2023. We were instrumental in this and have sent a link to as many businesses and local authorities as possible. We are also pushing Defra to adopt the Codes.

• Farm parks, petting zoos and animal encounters

In our experience, the majority of these places do not care for their rabbits properly, and often allow handling sessions for children which is extremely stressful for the rabbits. We have written to every farm park, petting zoo and animal encounter in England to share the updated Codes of Practice and try to make changes. 

We have had some great feedback from this, with some asking for more information, asking us to give lectures, and send On the Hop booklets for visitors.

• Unlicensed breeders

For the last seven years we have had the benefit of the brilliance of Mark, our Welfare Officer, who investigates and reports unlicensed breeders. Unfortunately, despite providing local authorities with a comprehensive dossier of evidence each time, we can probably count on one hand the number of breeders that have been investigated and licensed as a result. This is another example of the system not working and why we want all breeders and sellers to be licensed.

• Not all vets are rabbit savvy

Because of their complex care needs, rabbits are classed as an exotic pet, which is a surprise to many owners. Whilst in training, vets spend a worryingly little amount of time learning about rabbits. This does vary between vet schools, but to become rabbit savvy, it means the vet has to go out of their way to do more training and continual professional development (CPD) on rabbits. We have a rabbit friendly vet list on our website and a big part of our resources are dedicated to keeping the list online and up to date.

In 2023 we ran CPD courses free of charge and hosted three webinars on The Webinar Vet. This was at a cost to us of around £9000, but we had almost 3000 views in over 65 countries! This will make a difference to many practices and improve the outcomes for many pet rabbits.

We also help vets by guiding them in best practice and writing clinical policies. The website has a section dedicated to vets and vet nurses with useful resources available.

• Lack of enforcement

Local Authorities are supposed to enforce the legislation that does exist to protect rabbits. We report many cases a year where for example a farm park has poor welfare. Sadly the results are usually disappointing. Local authorities have limited resources, and priorities mean they do not enforce the legislation. Different authorities can also have very different approaches, which we think should be standardised. In 2024 we aim to produce a pack for anyone who works with rabbits so they can see which legislation applies to them. This will provide clarity and should help with enforcement.

• Brachycephalic (flat faced) breeds

This is a huge area of concern because brachy rabbits suffer many health problems. We are working with other organisations to try and make a change here but it is a long, hard process. Internally we have stopped using any images of brachy breeds on our website, magazine and marketing because we need to stop normalising these breeds and the health problems they suffer from.

How can the public act for Rabbit Welfare? 

We would love for everyone to add their signature to our petition to amend legislation to ensure rabbit breeders require the same licensing as dog breeders. We’re close to 100,000 signatures!

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and also sign up for our annual Membership which has many great benefits like receiving our quarterly magazine Rabbiting On. 

Word to live by?

It might sound corny, but we have always believed this to be the case:

“Together we can make a difference.”