New figures from the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF), the biggest UK charity dedicated to improving the lives of ‘pet’ rabbits, show that the number of unwanted rabbits has nearly doubled in recent years.

The last meaningful survey conducted by the charity estimated the number of rabbits given up to rescue shelters at around 35,000. The organisation has recently conducted another survey, and was shocked to find the figure now standing at well over 67,000.

‘What is really worrying,’ said Richard Saunders, RWAF Veterinary Expert Advisor, ‘is that this number only reflects the cases where the rabbits have made it into rescue. We can't possibly quantify how many more are dumped in the wild and left to fend for themselves, which leads to almost certain death. Then there are those who, when the novelty has worn off, are simply neglected and left often in a hutch with no access to exercise space and almost no attention except for a handful of food now and again.’

Why dos this have to happen...

You hit me,
You punch me,
You kick me,
You lunge me.
Now I’m dead,
I’m passed,
I’m gone,
All because of you,
I didn’t live long,
I was still small,
Still little,
Still bitty,
I wanted to be your friend,
But all you did was hit me,
Now I’m not here,
Now I’m gone,
Do you now feel my pain,
That I felt for so long,
I just wanted love,
I just wanted a friend,
But because of you,
It is my end.

This poem is about animal abuse, and how people hurt their animals, who just want love. If you care about animals who are abused.

Poisoning, shocking, burning, and killing animals is all in a day's work for vivisectors. If these atrocious acts were committed outside laboratories, they would be felonies. But animals suffer and die every day in laboratories with little or no protection from cruelty. Here are the top reasons why it needs to stop:

It's unethical to sentence 100 million thinking, feeling animals to life in a laboratory cage and intentionally cause them pain, loneliness, and fear.
It's bad science. The Food and Drug Administration reports that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans.

It's wasteful. Animal experiments prolong the suffering of people waiting for effective cures by misleading experimenters and squandering precious money, time, and resources that could have been spent on human-relevant research.

It's archaic. Forward-thinking scientists have developed humane, modern, and effective non-animal research methods, including human-based microdosing, in vitro technology, human-patient simulators, and sophisticated computer modeling, that are cheaper, faster, and more accurate than animal tests.