Caution Urged Acquiring Pet Rabbits
What: Rabbitats Easter BunnyFest
Where: Lavenderland, 8460 Steveston Hwy, Richmond, BC
When: Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17, 2022 – 10 AM to 4 PM daily
Tickets: Minimum $5 donation at the door or online via EventBrite
Rabbitats’ Easter Bunnyfest is Back! The annual celebration has been on hiatus due to Covid but Easter weekend (April 16 and 17) will see a two-day event at Lavenderland’s fabulous event barn on Steveston Hwy in Richmond.
Real Easter bunnies will be on hand for Rabbitats’ signature Meet & Treat. Visitors can watch the colony of rabbits or enter the enclosure to feed them treats from cups (much to the delight of the humans and rabbits alike).
This year an artisan market with food and crafts vendors will be a highlight of the two-day event.
Tables with new and used bunny crafts, books, knick-knacks, rabbit supplies and more will be on hand as well, and kids can also enjoy face painting, crafts, games and prizes.
All proceeds will go to support the Rabbitats Rescue Society and their efforts to save and control unwanted and abandoned pet rabbits.
The Richmond-based rabbit rescue hopes that people will resist the temptation of acquiring a rabbit during the Easter season and visit the rabbits at Lavenderland instead.
Kids and adults alike can learn more about rabbits by attending the event. Rabbitats also offers a program that allows people to foster rabbits before adopting in order to make sure a rabbit is right for their situation. And we strongly encourage only adopting sterilized rabbits from rescues and shelters that will take the rabbit back if the need arises.
Unwanted Easter bunnies are the most prolific cause of the massive overrun of abandoned rabbits in the Lower Mainland, an issue that has rescue and control agencies stretched way beyond their limits. Very few are able to accommodate more rabbits, leaving bunny guardians few options.
Rabbits released into the environment are routinely hit by cars and attacked by predators. They most often survive less than a year, but they can give birth every 31 days producing many more offspring destined to suffer the same fate.
The Rabbitats Rescue Society is developing new destinations for unwanted rabbits along with programs to control the feral populations but needs the support of the community.
Volunteers can sign up at rabbitats.org/volunteer.
Donations are gratefully accepted at rabbitats.org/donations.
