With just three weeks to go until Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW) 2022, the organisers behind the UK’s largest campaign of its kind are urging veterinary practices to get involved by downloading a wealth of free resources to assist them in running their own events during RAW.
“Room for Rabbits” is the theme of 2022’s RAW, which takes place from 27 June – 1 July, and follows research that 38 percent of vets believe rabbits’ environment is the most neglected welfare need, with over a quarter of the UK’s rabbits being kept in inadequate housing conditions, and almost half of them living alone. However, the RAW survey also found that 90 percent of vets believe that rabbits’ welfare in the UK is improving.
Holly Castle, senior brand manager at Burgess Pet Care, Rabbit Awareness Action Group member and organisers of RAW 2022, said: “Despite improvements to rabbit welfare in the UK, it remains the case that many rabbits are living in woefully inadequate housing, which is often due to a lack of understanding of their five key welfare needs – environment being one of them.
“We recognise that the vet community plays a vital role in ensuring that owners are armed with the right information about rabbits’ welfare needs, which is why we are urging practices to download our RAW vet packs and run their own campaigns this year. Given the increase in demand for rabbit ownership in the UK in the past two years, it is more important than ever that we educate as many owners as possible, so that these wonderful creatures can live the life they deserve, in the right environment.
“Throughout RAW 2022 there will be a wealth of great content on Facebook and Instagram, but we need the veterinary community’s help in spreading the word in their local areas,” Holly added.
Free downloadable RAW vet packs are available now and contain a wealth of materials including care guides, a health log, posters, printable bunting and a guide on how to run a successful RAW 2022 campaign. All the information, including the vet packs, can be found at the website.
