EAGLE, Idaho — There's a need for rabbit adoption in the Treasure Valley.
Remembering Ruby Rabbit Rescue, a nonprofit formed after a bunny was left behind at a 4H event at the fair in Idaho Falls years ago, is chalk-full of bunnies.
"All the rescues are full. Every single rescue is full of bunnies," Debbie Aldrich, owner of Remembering Ruby, told Idaho News 6.
Aldrich said she gets weekly calls about people finding stray bunnies and she helps adopt out about 100 each year. Right now, her shelter has 60 spayed and neutered bunnies ready for adoption.
According to Aldrich, bunnies can have babies every 30 days. "A bunny has two uteruses, so they can have a batch of babies and get pregnant the next day," she said, "they'll have eight or nine babies, and then you know, a month later they can have eight or nine babies again. So it's just a huge problem."
Aldrich says it's a problem if the animals get loose intentionally or unintentionally as domestic rabbits are not able to be released into the wild. They can reproduce rapidly and wreak havoc on gardens and other sources of food.
Remembering Ruby Rabbit Rescue could use help, especially in the form of volunteers who can help foster the animals until adoption.
The Idaho Humane Society is currently accepting both surrendered rabbits and rescued strays.
According to communications manager Kristine Schellhaas, the nonprofit adopts out about 20 bunnies per month. They also have a Rodent and Rabbit Rescuer Program that takes an alternative approach to the excess of bunnies in the Treasure Valley.
"Those rabbits and small animals go into schools, they go into homeschooling rooms, and there's curriculum that goes along with them," Schellhaas said, "it's an eight-week program. Kids get to spend a lot of time loving on rabbits and the classroom gets to be the first one to adopt."
Schellhaas says the organization is seeing an uptick in the amount of people who want to adopt bunnies.
"They can be potty trained like cats, so it's a really nice situation where we can help get an animal into a home," Schellhaas said.
