The Booglaw association, based in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne) but whose refuge is located in Pontault-Combault (Seine-et-Marne), can only note the increase in the abandonment of domestic rabbits.
"Since December, it hasn't stopped", assures Vincent Dubosc, the president of the structure, who says he currently registers about fifteen calls a day from people trying to get rid of their little beasts with long ears.
And when Vincent replies that their maximum accommodation capacity has been reached, some do not hesitate to leave the rabbits in the middle of the street, in a cage or not.
This happened to them on Thursday, January 6.
“Someone saw cages in the street and brought them to the door of the shelter.
There were the rabbits in brand new cages.
It is believed to be from a school as it has class names on it.
But we will never know.
What is unfortunate is that if rabbits live indoors all year round, it can kill them to leave them outside like that in the cold.
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A post-Christmas effect?
This increase in abandonments, Vincent Dubosc puts it partly on the account of Christmas gifts.
“Often it's people who weren't aware of these gifts and didn't want them,” he says.
It requires a lot of maintenance.
And then there are the children, who get bored quickly.
We are also brought in litters of six to twelve rabbits from unsterilized rabbits.
There were also lockdowns.
With each deconfinement, there has been an increase in abandonments.
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Booglaw counts in its ranks about fifty rabbits, but also nearly 90 cats for some free, as well as two dogs and three guinea pigs.
The association cannot accommodate more.
So, to prevent abandonment, Vincent Dubosc warns.
“Above all, you have to find out about the needs of the animals before buying them,” he says.
You also have to ask yourself the right questions before buying one, because a rabbit lives for ten years.
A cat lives between twenty and thirty years.
It is as many years of vaccines, of care.
And then, a rabbit doesn't live in a cage.
A rabbit needs to exert itself.
In a cage, it is an unhappy animal.
“Rabbits live in community, adds Charlotte Naudin, volunteer for the association.
They need their fellows.
And then, you have to sterilize them, it saves them a lot of diseases.
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Threats, insults...
People on the phone are not always understanding.
"They get angry, they don't understand," says Booglaw's president.
On Saturday, a lady who was not happy answered me:
You don't talk to me like that!
I'm going to come and break your g...
We receive a lot of threats when we answer that we can't take the animals for lack of space.
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In Pontault-Combault, the members of Booglaw claim to be the only ones to carry out this kind of reception mission, in particular for domestic rabbits.
This is why they are known in the industry and people bring theirs to them to get rid of, even against the wishes of its members.
"If we receive others, we will send them to the pound, where, unfortunately, they will end up stung," laments Vincent Dubosc.
We cannot push the walls of the refuge.
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