The House Rabbit Society (HRS) is a non-profit organization based in Richmond, California

Richmond, California

Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...

 that rescue

Rescue

Rescue refers to responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury during an incident or dangerous situation....

s and adopts

Pet adoption

Pet adoption usually refers to the process of taking guardianship of and responsibility for a pet that a previous owner has abandoned or released to a shelter or rescue organization...

 rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

s and educates the community on how to properly care for them. HRS tries to promote responsible rabbit ownership, including the spaying and neutering of all pet rabbits, and proper veterinary care, diet

Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...

, and exercise. They also advocate the position that all domestic rabbits should be kept indoors as house rabbit

House rabbit

A house rabbit is a pet domestic rabbit kept for companionship that lives inside its owner's home. House rabbits can be trained to use a litter box, and can live as long as 8-10 years when properly cared for....

s, because they argue that house rabbits live longer, healthier, fuller lives and suffer fewer accidents and health problems.

HRS was founded in January 1988. As of 2005, HRS has over 9,000 members and claims to have found foster homes for more than 20,000 rabbits. HRS has educators and fosterers in 33 states in the United States and in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Italy and Singapore.

Organization philosophy

The House Rabbit Society believes that all rabbits are valuable as individuals, regardless of breed purity, temperament, state of health, or relationship to humans. The welfare of all rabbits, domestic and wild, is the organization's primary consideration. The Society believes all domestic rabbits should be spayed or neutered and should live in a human home.

Adoption and Education Center

In the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 HRS runs the country's first ever rabbit-only Adoption and Education Center.

The HRS Rabbit Center also serves as the home office of HRS. Before the existence of the Rabbit Center, the day-to-day work of the national organization all took place in various private homes throughout the country.

Controversy

HRS is campaigning against Heifer International

Heifer International

Heifer International is a global nonprofit with the goal of ending poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. Established in 1944, Heifer International gives out gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training to those in need...

, a non-profit organization that assists starving humans by giving families in third world nations a trio of rabbits to be used to provide a sustainable source of protein to bring themselves out of starvation.
Although the charity has been endorsed by U.S. Presidents,
as well as Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

 and Bono

Bono

Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

for feeding starving people in Africa,
HRS believes that rabbits should not be used to feed humans.

External links

• House Rabbit Society website