PET CARE Love for Easter bunny grew into rescue shelter

The Bunny Lady didn't set out to be a rabbit rescuer.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Pam Hood once did what she now knows is wrong: She bought an Easter bunny.
It was five years ago, when she'd just been diagnosed as having a potentially cancerous ovarian tumor. To take her mind off her impending surgery, she and her husband, Matt Tucci, bought a baby bunny from a pet store that was selling them for Easter.
She immediately fell in love with her pet, which she named Bun Bun, and he kept her company during the recovery after surgery. (She was relieved to learn the tumor wasn't cancerous.) Meanwhile, she had plenty of time to research the best ways to care for a pet rabbit.
That's when she learned why it's so bad to buy a baby bunny, especially this time of year: So many of them turn into homeless rabbits in the end.
Many newly bought pet rabbits also are relegated to outdoor cages or hutches where their life expectancy is 2 years, as opposed to 10 years or more for a rabbit kept indoors, she said. Even rabbits kept indoors are often locked in cages, without the daily socialization and exercise they need.
Thrill is gone
Either way, many of these bunnies lose their appeal after a few months, when they go from being cute babies to full-grown rabbits. They may become sexually active and aggressive -- hissing or spraying urine -- especially if they're not neutered.
That's why hundreds of thousands of rabbits are surrendered to animal shelters each year or set free in the wild, even though they're not bred or trained to survive on their own.
"Rabbits are the third-most-relinquished animals to animal shelters across the country," said Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States. Only dogs and cats are more frequently abandoned. That's because, Shain said, "people get a rabbit without really understanding the level of care they need." And once they realize their rabbits need daily attention, many opt to get rid of them, she said.
Hood was horrified to learn how few agencies were available to help all the rabbits left homeless because their owners no longer wanted them. So she launched the Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue -- one of only a handful of rabbit shelters in the country -- dedicated to finding new homes for homeless rabbits.
During the past three years, Hood and her team of volunteers have taken in about 450 rabbits. They've found new homes for 353. They've euthanized 17 that ultimately proved to be unadoptable. More come in every day.
Hood, who's become known as The Bunny Lady, didn't set out to be a rabbit rescuer.
She moved to Rhode Island in 1996 to help Southwest Airlines launch its service at T.F. Green Airport. She was a customer-service supervisor and she was assigned here for six months. Then she was supposed to head to Nashville, Tenn., with a promotion.
But instead she met Tucci, a musician who owned a security company. Eventually, she quit the airline and she and Tucci bought a tiny house in West Greenwich, R.I., where they raised 10 chickens -- a passion of Hood's since she'd grown up on a 1,000-acre farm in Missouri.
Then came her medical scare, and Bun Bun joined their lives just before Easter in 2000.
The more Hood read about bunnies, the more she couldn't stand the thought of people buying baby rabbits without committing to caring for them for life.
So, after Easter, Hood bought the last remaining baby bunny at her local pet store. And when she heard a local group was raffling off another baby bunny, she bought $12 worth of 50-cent tickets to win the right to take it home.
Soon after, the pet store's owner called her about a rabbit that had been dropped off: Could she help find it a new home? Next thing she knew, she was getting calls from friends and family members, including her in-laws in Connecticut, who'd found a domesticated rabbit huddled underneath their car.
"Bunnies just started popping up," Hood said, "and I'd go and take care of them."
Growing family
Soon, Hood had eight rabbits, as well as her 10 chickens and a baby goat, Munchie, that she'd adopted when he nearly died shortly after birth.
But neighbors didn't appreciate the growing menagerie. So Hood and Tucci sold their house and moved to a 22-acre farm that included a barn and a chicken coop -- perfect for their growing animal family.
They officially launched the Foster, R.I.-based Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue three years ago, with an "Alice in Wonderland"-type logo showing a rabbit holding a watch, with the words: "Buy a bunny a little time."
XFor more information, contact www.rirabbits.org or www.sweetbinks.org.