The Rabbit Sanctuary won an Australia-wide award!
23rd October 2020
Kim Cooney with rescue rabbit Andy Pandy.
This is the first time in Australian history that a rabbit organisation has won an Australia-wide award! This will help raise the cultural value of rabbits in Australia! Three of our entries made the finalists! Then we won a major industry award!
Read more:
Jetpets Companion Animal Rescue Awards 2020 FINALISTS revealed
Rescue Awards, 16th September 2020
The Companion Animal Rescue Awards celebrates and recognises the most inspiring examples of dedication to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of companion animals.
The Jetpets Companion Animal Rescue Awards 2020 is proud to announce the FINALISTS of the 2020 Awards, which celebrate and recognise achievements in the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of companion animals Australia-wide. Read more
English Angora Rescue Rabbit Daisy makes it to the movies!
21st August 2020
Daisy the move star bunny checking out her director's chair with her friend Lucy.
RESCUE BUNNY DAISY A MOVIE STAR!
We are so excited about our rescue bunny Daisy making it in the movies!
She is featured in award winning Australian movie "Moonrock for Monday", a poignant story of a young girl with a life threatening illness seeking a cure and travelling with none other than her co star Daisy our "Rags to Riches" English Angora rescue rabbit.
"Moonrock for Monday" is featured in the Byron Bay Film Festival.
We are so proud of her and her Foster Carer become Bunny Mum and Trainer, Deanne Caruana from Sydney.
If you miss it on the big screen try to find it online.
See trailer...https://youtu.be/doBnKqB0Lks
Directed by Kurt Martin. With Aaron Jeffery, Jessica Napier, David Field, Karina Banno & Daisy the English Angora rescued by The Rabbit Sanctuary. Set in Sydney, 1999
'Disposable' animals used as gender reveal gifts
The Daily Telegraph, 15th April 2020
In a sign the gender reveal trend is getting out of hand, a baby bunny was dyed pink and gifted to a horrified expectant couple leaving the rabbit named ‘Pinky’ traumatised and without a home ... Read more [subscription required]
'Disposable' animals used as gender reveal gifts
The Daily Telegraph, 15th April 2020
In a sign the gender reveal trend is getting out of hand, a baby bunny was dyed pink and gifted to a horrified expectant couple leaving the rabbit named ‘Pinky’ traumatised and without a home ... Read more [subscription required]
Rabbit Rescue: caring for the bunnies this Easter
Tweed Daily News, 11th April 2017
AMID all the revelry around the Easter Bunny and his delivery of chocolate eggs on Sunday, one organisation is asking us to remember to care for his friends, the rabbits. Read more
Buying a Rabbit for Easter
2 NUR FM
Listen to Kitty MacDonald, Newcastle Foster Carer for The Rabbit Sanctuary talking to xx on 2NUR FM about buying a rabbit as an Easter gift. There are some pitfalls due to the impulse buying aspect. Kitty discusses the idea of fostering before adopting. Listen to recording
Talking Pets
Radio 2UE
An interview with Kim Cooney, Co-Founder of The Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary with Dr Jo Righetti and David Prior.
Baby rabbits left for dead on side of road
The Daily Examiner, 13th June 2017
WHAT sort of person leaves seven defenceless baby rabbits in a box on the side of a main road? That's the question Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary director Kim Cooney wants an answer to, after it happened on Brooms Head Rd last week. Read more
Attempts to wipe out feral rabbits threatening domestic animals
2ser 107.3, 23th Nov 2016
How would you feel if there was a virus going around that was killing pet cats and dogs, with no vaccine against it? That’s what’s happening to people who own pet rabbits right now. The virus is RHDV2, and is used to control populations of feral rabbits, but pets are falling victim at an alarming rate. Tess Connery spoke to Jazzie McMillan from The Rabbit Sanctuary to find out more about what can be done. Listen to the interview
How big is the biggest rabbit on the Clarence?
The Daily Examiner, 13th Aug 2016
SCOUT, the biggest rabbit on the Clarence River at more than seven kilos, drew a huge crowed at Loving Life Day with a competition to guess his weight. But it wasn't only Scout, his rabbit friends had kids lining up for a pat and cuddle. Kim Cooney from the Rabbit Sanctuary said they had rescued thousands of rabbits over the years and were at Loving Life Day to help show people how to care for rabbits properly. Read more
Rabbit owners try to convince police it's a guinea pig
The Daily Examiner, 15th March 2016
THE owners of a large pet rabbit being kept illegally in Queensland tried to catch police officers on the hop by telling them it was a guinea pig. Police said the rabbit was found living in a cage inside a caravan and was seized by the Springwood officers after they were called to the address in relation to an incident involving its owners. Read more
Easter miracle for border-hopping rabbit after Qld escape
The Daily Examiner, 7th May 2016
WHEN Boo the rabbit made his lucky escape from the custody of Queensland Police last week, Grafton's Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary's Kim Cooney had no idea the drama it would cause. The male bunny made headlines last week when officers from Springwood police station saw the rabbit in a cage as they attended a call for an unrelated incident. Read more
Rabbit owners at 'panic stations in disease outbreak
The Daily Examiner, 7th May 2015
JUST as Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary owner Kim Cooney was deciding what colour to paint the newly constructed bunny barn, she got a call she had been dreading. The call was from South Grafton veterinarian Chris Gough, to let her know the clinic had just euthanised a pet rabbit suffering from symptoms of myxomatosis, a deadly virus with the potential to decimate domestic rabbit populations. Read more
When Myxamatosis struck near the Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary 2011
2011
A Bunny Bunker was built at great expense and volunteers came from everywhere to bring all bunnies inside.
Without first providing pet owners with a vaccine, the Australian Government is breaking the law!
It is illegal to release a virus without a vaccine. It is killing people’s beloved pets.
It is illegal to release a virus without a vaccine. It is killing people’s beloved pets.
The Facts...
- There is a vaccine overseas. We want the Aust Govt to immediately allow its import. There is no cost to the government. Vets buy the vaccine. Users pay. Pet Rabbit Owners need that vaccine to protect their pets. We love our bunnies.
- Thousands of pet rabbits have already died. Pet rabbit owners are living in fear of losing their beloved pets. If this were dogs and cats no-one would stand for it. Rabbit owners are in the minority but they love their rabbits as much if not more than dog owners love their dogs. It is wrong to release a virus that kills people’s pets without a vaccine. Very wrong. It shows that the Australian Government doesn’t care about its citizens.
- The new virus known as RHD2 was ‘accidentally’ released by the Government in 2015. This was irresponsible. CSIRO scientists should be under stricter control. In 2017 the Government is planning to import yet another deadly rabbit virus that will kill pretty much all pet rabbits in Australia because it is carried by flies. There is no way we can keep flies away from our pets. There is no vaccine for this Korean calicivirus import. It could also jump to Australian native wildlife or other animals. There is some evidence of this happening overseas. The Korean virus is known as K5. There is also a recent report of a dog eating a rabbit infected with the virus and dying in Bathurst NSW
Conclusion
The Rabbit Sanctuary is asking everyone who cares about animals, about pet rabbit owners, about the Australian Environment to make a face to face appointment to see their local Minister of Parliament to ask the Government to stop the import of the Korean virus and to allow the importation of the vaccine that governments in other countries have provided for pet rabbit owners for the one they released last year.
