Richmond, BC – (March 12, 2024) – Rabbitats’ annual Easter Bunnyfest is heading back to the Lulu Island Winery in Richmond this year for a one-day event, Sunday March 31st.
Real Easter bunnies will be on hand for Rabbitats’ signature Meet n’ Treat. Visitors can watch the colonies of rabbits or for a fee enter the enclosure to feed them healthy treats from cups (much to the delight of the humans and rabbits alike).
Bunny crafts, knick-knacks and refreshments will be on hand and kids can also enjoy face painting, crafts tables, games and prizes.
Kids and adults alike can learn about rabbits as pets and even ‘Adopt a Stuffy’ in advance of acquiring a real one.
Entry is by donation at the door. All proceeds will go to support the Rabbitats Rescue Society and their efforts to save and control unwanted and abandoned domestic rabbits.
The Rabbitats’ bunnies will also be on hand for a Meet n’ Treat at Lansdowne Centre on Good Friday (March 29th), and for an information and educational display on Granville Island on Saturday, March 30th. (Rabbitats removed dozens of rabbits from Granville Island in late 2023 after three rabbits abandoned over the winter turned into 40 rabbits by spring).
Visitors can also enjoy bunny love at the Bunny Cafe (1696 Venables, Vancouver, bunnycafe.ca) which serves as the rescue’s adoption centre.
The Richmond-based Rabbitats Rescue Society hopes that people will resist the temptation of acquiring a rabbit during the Easter season and visit the rabbits at our Easter events or our Bunny Cafe (1696 Venables, Vancouver) instead.
Visitors can get their Easter bunny fix by feeding them treats and people interested in adopting can learn all about rabbits. 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.
We strongly encourage only adopting sterilized rabbits from rescues and shelters that will take the rabbit back if the need arises.
“The rescues and shelters are so overloaded,” says Rabbitats founder Sorelle Saidman, “people with unwanted pet rabbits will have few if any options.”
Releasing the rabbits is not an option, says Saidman.
“It’s cruel and illegal to abandon unwanted pets. Rabbits released into the environment are routinely hit by cars and attacked by predators. They most often survive less than a year, but they outbreed the predators. They can give birth every 31 days producing many more offspring destined to suffer the same fate.”
The Rabbitats Rescue Society, which currently has sanctuaries in Richmond and Langley, 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/donate
For more media information, please contact media@rabbitats.org
