"Cute at First Sight?" Irresponsibly Abandoned Street Rabbits

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] At Montmartre Park in Seocho-gu, Seoul, you can easily see rabbits hopping around. These rabbits originated in 2011 when someone abandoned a pair of rabbits there. As these rabbits gave birth and their population rapidly increased, along with other abandoned rabbits joining, the park came to be known as the "Rabbit Park."

Thanks to their cute appearance, rabbits were once popular as pets, but now they are being irresponsibly abandoned on the streets. Abandoned rabbits, with their prolific breeding, appear throughout the city, becoming a nuisance. Rabbits have a short lifespan of 7 to 8 years and issues with odor, so interest in them does not last long. Being social animals, it is best to keep a male and female pair, but most people tend to keep only one rabbit. This is one reason why rabbits have difficulty adapting to their owners and their families.

Many rabbits are irresponsibly abandoned after people impulsively start raising them, thinking they are easy to care for because they do not bark or make loud noises. When fully grown, rabbits are larger than expected and tend to have a strong odor, making them unsuitable for indoor living. Abandoned rabbits then mingle with other rabbits, increasing their population.

Since rabbits can give birth once a month, if they are not neutered, their population can increase more than tenfold within a year. At Central Park in Songdo International City, Incheon, the five rabbits initially released on "Rabbit Island" once grew to over 70. In Australia, a dozen or so rabbits brought from Europe in 1859 bred at an alarming rate, and their population has now reached 150 million, becoming an environmental problem.

Irresponsibly abandoned and indiscriminately breeding rabbits are a headache for local governments. Some local governments are conducting neutering surgeries on abandoned rabbits and attempting to place them in general households, but these measures are criticized as not being fundamental solutions.

A veterinarian emphasized, "Rabbits raised at home face life-threatening risks the moment they are released into the wild. From food to temperature, environmental issues, and threats from predators, there are many dangers, so if you are not confident in raising them until the end, you should not start raising them in the first place."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.