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(1) Buy a cruelty-free product. These are any items whose ingredients have not been tested on animals. You will find cruelty
free products at stores such as Whole Foods, My Organic Market, and Trader Joe's. Look for the Leaping Bunny logo. Some brands
include Jason, Avalon, Aveda, etc. For more info about companies with cruelty-free products, visit www.leapingbunny.org or
click on their link on RabbitWise's Rabbit Advocate page. They will send you a free pocketsize shopping guide upon request.
(2) Write a letter to a restaurant you know has rabbit on the menu and request that they remove it. Recently a local Maryland
restaurant, Café des Artistes, agreed to stop serving rabbit when The Natural Rabbit group, RabbitWise® volunteers and other
devoted rabbit lovers flooded the owners with letters and information about rabbits. Your voice matters!
(3) On September 24, have a vegetarian meal. Rabbits really dig their salads! Learn to eat like a rabbit.
(4) Volunteer for a rabbit rescue or advocacy group (like RabbitWise!®) or help out at a local animal shelter. Saving
an animal's life enriches the soul and uplifts the human race.
(5) Foster a rabbit and experience the joy of sharing your home with one. Many rabbit rescue groups can assist you with
finding a rabbit. Visit RabbitWise®'s Adopt A Rescued Rabbit page for links to our local rabbit shelters and organizations.
(6) Make a donation to an animal shelter, rabbit rescue and advocacy group. Funds are always desperately needed to provide
medical care for fostered and abandoned rabbits, to promote education about rabbits, and to find rabbits good homes.
(7) Shop at www.cafépress.com. Many groups, such as RabbitWise® and House Rabbit Society, have stores located there with
items for sale, e.g. tote bags, mugs, T-shirts, even lunch boxes and camisoles! A percentage of the profit goes to support
these groups to help the rabbits.
(8) For the next celebration, a child's birthday, baby shower, or other special occasion, introduce children to rabbits
and humane care of all living beings early in their development. Get a rabbit doll or books with rabbits as main characters,
such as Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit Stories.
(9) Send a letter to Animal Planet on cable or PBS, and tell them that you want to see some shows/documentaries about
rabbits. They are one of the least understood animals and sadly, exploited as food, fur, and fiber. We need to get the word
out how wonderful these creatures are to stop this exploitation.
(10) Boycott shops that sell rabbit fur clothing and linings. Write letters to their corporate headquarters and complain.
For example: Lord and Taylor is currently selling a whole line of rabbit fur items. UGG boots, a very popular item from
last year, has just released a new line of $400 boots trimmed in rabbit fur.
Remember the rabbits
Whose fur coats
have been flayed,
Whose lives have
been wasted
Their beauty betrayed.
Remember the rabbits
Whom hounds chase
to ground
For man’s
brutal sport
And his money, ill-found.
Remember the rabbits
Who lie dead on
man’s plate
To satisfy gluttonous
tastes--
Such a waste!
Remember the rabbits
Who pine in pet
stores
Too young to leave
mama
Still, there to
be sold.
Remember the rabbits
Alone in the labs
Their heads locked
in stocks
Red eyes burned,
red eyes sad.
Remember the rabbits
Whose lives we have
saved
Who’ve moved
far away
From premature graves.
Remember the
rabbits
Who share our own
beds
Who purr in our
arms
When we stroke their
soft heads.
Remember our rabbits
Who’ve hopped
to the Bridge...
Who live in our
hearts...
May we meet again.
Remember the rabbits
On this, their own
day,
On all of their
lives
Let us contemplate
and pray.
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