Latest news with #rabbits
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Howard County nonprofit asks for the community's help after rescuing 60 rabbits
Volunteers with a Howard County animal rescue have been working around the clock after rescuing over 60 rabbits from an abandoned farm. Even after more than a week, the rabbits are still putting a big strain on Friends of Rabbits. It's hoping for some of the community's help to keep caring for the rescued rabbits. Sarah Healy, who's a board member at Friends of Rabbits, said someone told the nonprofit about an injured rabbit that hopped onto their property. After eventually getting that rabbit into their care, Healy said they heard from the tipster again. "I found out from that person that the rabbit had come from a farm [neighboring] her property, and she started seeing more rabbits pop up," Healy said. "So, she reached out to us every time she saw a rabbit pop up." Healy went to the Woodstock Farm with volunteers, expecting maybe four or five rabbits. Instead, she saw at least 10 running around. There were a lot more than that. On the first day, Healy and the volunteers rescued 30 rabbits. On the second day, 20 were rescued. It took a few more days to rescue 60. "They were in really bad shape," Healy said. "A lot of them were very underweight, especially the adults. A few of the adults had heart conditions, they had trouble breathing, respiratory illnesses." Healy believes the rabbits were once pets that were released and then reproduced on the farm. Friends of Rabbits typically rescues around 150 to 200 rabbits a year. In the last four months -- including this rescue -- it's rescued more than 100 rabbits. Many of the rabbits are on medications now. All of the female rabbits have given birth, adding to the total tally, and some have also died. Friends of Rabbits is trying to raise funds to expand to give the rabbits more space. "Our intention is really to try to keep as many of the rabbits here [in Columbia] ourselves, also work with some other local rescues, but they're strained right now," said Friends of Rabbits treasurer Susan Wong. "We're trying not to burden our local community shelters, and other rabbit rescues in the area are taxed. We are the largest rabbit rescue in the area." Friends of Rabbits said people need to understand rabbits need just as much care as cats and dogs. Everyone at the nonprofit hopes all of the remaining rescues can eventually find a home. "If someone heard of 60 dogs running loose on a farm, there would be way more upset," Healy said. "People would really be motivated to go out there to save those guys." Friends of Rabbits is currently accepting donations, as well as anyone willing to foster or adopt animals in their care. You can find out more on their website, as well as follow updates on Facebook.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Zoo Encourages Public to Donate Unwanted Pets to Help Feed Resident Animals
The Aalborg Zoo shared that "chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs" are used to feed its caged animals, including the European lynx Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Love buns on the lookout for a new home together
Hi there! We're Terence and Tabitha, a pair of one-year-old love buns looking for a new home together. We came to the National Animal Welfare Trust after being handed in to Medivet as strays We're a bonded pair and totally inseparable. Where one of us goes, the other is never far behind and we've been like that ever since we were handed into the local vet. We love snuggling, grooming each other and hopping around together. We're on the lookout for a new home where we can stretch our legs, flop in the sunshine, and enjoy all the space we need. We'd be happy either indoors or outdoors, as long as we have plenty of room and are safe from any dangers. The staff here say we're sweet, gentle, and love a calm environment where we can feel safe and loved. We rabbits make popular pets and that's not surprising as we're highly intelligent and inquisitive animals so having us in your family can be very rewarding. But, like any animal, we do need looking after properly. Feeding hay (different from bedding hay) or dried grass from pet shops should be our main food with a handful of fresh greens and a small amount of complete rabbit pellets. You'll also need to provide fresh water and change it daily. If you've got the space in your heart and home for two adorable love buns, apply to rehome us today! Email reception@ or call 0208 950 0177 (option 2) to arrange for us to meet.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Invasive species undergoes mysterious change as it dominates Australia
Almost two centuries after rabbits were set free across Australia's fragile landscape, scientists are working to understand a mysterious change that has occurred in their physical nature. Oddly, the rabbits released from 1859 onwards have grown bigger than their European counterparts. The difference was noted in new research led by the University of Adelaide's Associate Professor Emma Sherratt, which studied the body sizes of 912 rabbits from around the world. 'We found Australian feral rabbits are quite a lot larger than European rabbits. We intend to find out why,' she said. It's hypothesised the changes could be due to "relaxed functional demands" on rabbits in Australia, because they face fewer threats from large predators. Physical developments have been observed in other feral animals released in Australia which give them an ecological advantage over native wildlife. In 2023, the Invasive Species Council noted that cane toads are changing in size and appearance as they adapt to different regions in Australia. As they expand west through Kakadu and into the Kimberly, cane toads at the edge of the "invasion front" have longer legs than those following them, allowing them to conquer new territory quickly. When you exclude the direct impact of humans, feral animals are responsible for more extinctions than anything else in Australia. Researchers are desperately working to give native species an edge by either genetically engineering them to avoid disease, or protecting them within dedicated sanctuaries. Native marsupials like the greater bilby once occupied up to 80 per cent of Australia's mainland. For thousands of years, throughout the night people would have seen the land teeming with the tiny creatures. Since European settlement, small marsupial numbers have dwindled, and conservationists have turned to protecting them inside fenced reserves. At the same time, feral rabbit numbers have exploded from an estimated 13 in 1859, to 200 million today, and scars from their warrens can be seen across the landscape. Meanwhile fewer than 10,000 greater bilbies survive. The researchers also examined rabbit skull shapes because changes in appearance indicate how they interact with their environment and what they feed on. 'Understanding how animals change when they become feral and invade new habitats helps us to predict what effect other invasive animals will have on our environment, and how we may mitigate their success,' Sherratt said. The work also included comparing the physical differences between rabbits that were raised for meat and fur, with wild animals. They found domesticated rabbit populations often didn't revert to their wild form after they were released into the environment. New detailed images released in fight to protect Australia from invasive pests Urgent plea to drivers after shocking dashcam footage emerges Call to stay vigilant as 'super' biosecurity threat spotted spreading over border 'While you might expect that a feral animal would revert to body types seen in wild populations, we found that feral rabbits' body size and skull-shape range is somewhere between wild and domestic rabbits, but also overlaps with them in large parts,' Sherratt said. 'Because the range is so variable and sometimes like neither wild nor domestic, feralisation in rabbits is not morphologically predictable if extrapolated from the wild or the domestic stock.' The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Photos show destruction as invasive species 'take over' Australian caravan parks
One of the country's most invasive pests is wreaking havoc on caravan parks in Australia's south, with photos shared online showing the extent of the devastation. Hundreds of rabbits were recently killed by professional shooters at Warrnambool along Victoria's Great Ocean Road. Noel Bauer and his colleague Shane from Vic Feral Eradication were contracted to shoot rabbits at Surfside Caravan Park and another undisclosed park in the area. Noel said rabbit activity was creating unstable footing for campers and impacting native animals. He carried out an environmental impact study on the parks last November to evaluate the damage rabbits were causing. "The rabbits were eating all the grass, and it was disappearing, and they were digging holes... with it all having an impact on the native animals," he said. "The ground was dangerous — there were concerns people would twist their ankles." The pair were brought in to shoot the rabbits this year, killing 1,189 over 10 days across the two locations. "The caravan parks were overrun with rabbits... there were holes every couple of metres," he said. "We go in there, hit them hard, get the numbers down as they breed very quickly." Despite the work being carried out over March and May, the pair decided to share photos online this week to drive home their messaging that rabbits are "taking over" parts of the country. The Invasive Species Council (ISC) told Yahoo in April that at least 300 native species have been identified as facing extinction and are directly impacted by the expanding rabbit populations across the country. Due to their impressive ability to breed, rabbits are quickly outcompeting native animals for available food sources. Native populations are declining while the ground continues to be stripped by rabbits. "Rabbits do more damage to native wildlife than any other animals," Noel said. "Cats do the most damage when we talk about killing animals, but rabbits do damage too because they remove food, as soon as it grows, rabbits nip it off, and then the ground becomes barren, making way for invasive weeds." Industry experts agree that national management strategies need to be implemented to address the issue; however, after federal funding ceased in 2022, and the last coordinated strategy was introduced over a decade ago, the rabbit population has well and truly boomed. "Recent season conditions mean the estimated 200 million rabbit population is likely about to explode, just as federal funding for the next killer virus [biocontrol method] runs dry," the ISC warned in April. Noel told Yahoo News that shooting was the only viable option at the two caravan sites because much of the area is environmentally protected. "We couldn't bait successfully because it's a built-up area open to the public, and the park is dog-friendly, so that ruled it out. The issue with harbouring, which is when you pull out and rip up where they live [burrows], is that the vegetation across the coastline is protected, and so we couldn't damage it. The other option you can do is fumigation, so we fumigate the burrows, but because we couldn't have access to the burrows, we couldn't do that," he said. "We've got a special licence... which allows us to use firearms in a pubic place." Shooting continues to be a controversial method of population control, despite authorities across the country continuing to permit it. An ACT Government spokesperson told Yahoo News last year 252 red-necked wallabies and 68 swamp wallabies were killed at the Mulligans Flat sanctuary — a wildlife sanctuary designed to protect wildlife. There also continues to be an annual ritual outside the Victorian parliament house where 82-year-old Laurie Levy shows off dozens of dead ducks after the state's approved duck culling season. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
