67,000 rabbits are abandoned each year in the UK. Those are the lucky ones, taken in by animal rescues. Others don't get a second chance.

Baby rabbits are often bought on impulse as cute pets for children who are unaware of their needs. When the novelty wears off, the animal ends up being neglected, bored and lonely, in a cage or a hutch. It then becomes a burden, no longer wanted. Most rabbits end up in a rescue within a year. Some are abandoned in the wild to a certain death. The rescue centres cannot cope with the numbers and the financial cost. Volunteers up and down the country work hard to pick up the pieces, but there aren’t enough suitable homes for all those animals. Some of them are too ill or aggressive due to mishandling and neglect and can't be re-homed.

Preloved is one of the largest UK companies offering online advertising of pets on their website. Preloved allows ANYONE to advertise up to 4 LITTERS of animals a year FOR FREE, without having to register as a business. Anyone registered as a business is allowed unlimited advertising of animals.

Preloved claim on their website they are PROUD TO MEET AND EXCEED PAAG MINIMUM STANDARDS – However the PAAG (Pet Advertising Advisory Group) only allows 2 animal adverts per person per year. The PAAG also requires a ban on adverts offering animals for stud. Yet numerous animals for stud and breeding can be found on Preloved.

Preloved claim they provide a ‘fully traceable method of selling’. THEY ARE MISSING THE POINT! Preloved will only investigate if a buyer reports a sick animal or if the seller has concerns about the buyer. Preloved does not offer home-checks, therefore they cannot fully trace the welfare of the thousands of animals traded on their website every year. Yet by allowing this to happen, they play a major part in the sad consequences of this unethical trade.

Baby bunnies should not be advertised online whilst thousands of rabbits are in rescue centres, waiting for a home. We ask Preloved to make the ethical decision to ban those ads in order to discourage irresponsible breeding and impulse buying, reduce animal suffering and support the work of local animal rescues.

A RABBIT IS A 10 YEAR COMMITMENT.
BUNNIES ARE FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR EASTER.
BABY BUNNIES HAVE NO PLACE IN CLASSIFIED ADS.

The 67,000 figure comes from a 2012 survey by the Rabbit Welfare Association. It represents the number of rabbits taken in by animal rescues that year. It does not take into account the number of rabbits sold online as unwanted, given away for free and those abandoned in the wild since that number is unknown.