LAYTON -- If you happen upon a display of free wiggly-nosed bunnies needing new homes for Easter, Dee Rice knows just what you should do.
Walk on by -- and get a stuffed bunny instead.
Don't get her wrong, Rice is as captivated as the next person by a big-eared rabbit, but she also knows what will befall those cuddly balls of fluff.
They grow up. They chew. They stink. They bite.
And a few months after Easter, those once-smitten owners abandon their bunnies, leaving Rice and her fellow volunteers at Utah Rabbit Rescue to try to find them new homes.
"I cringe when I hear somebody is looking to mate their bunny so (people) can find baby bunnies at Easter -- I just cringe," says Rice, the educational specialist for the nonprofit organization based in Draper.
So this Layton animal lover tries to teach others about the pros and cons of keeping rabbits as pets. Although bunnies can live happily indoors and be trained to use a litter box, they are far from low-maintenance animals, Rice says.
"They're not meant for the faint of heart, that's what I say," she says.
Yet despite her home's chewed-up door frame and chicken-wire-protected plants, Rice is drawn to rabbits and their antics, like the "bunny binkies," a sort of cavorting the critters do when happy.
"They'll do flips in the air, they do weird stuff with their feet -- they kind of dance in the air. It's cute," Rice says.
Meet Freckles
Although most of Rice's work with Utah Rabbit Rescue is educational, she occasionally takes in a rabbit needing a temporary place to stay.
That's why Freckles is hopping about her family room and mud room, investigating an empty box or nibbling on hay. Rice picked up Freckles and his siblings last summer, after they escaped from a backyard pen overrun with rabbits.
The 1-year-old spotted white bunny has since developed some kind of neurological problem; he drags his left hind foot and one side of his face is "crooked."
"It just came literally overnight," Rice says. "My guess is, he's had a stroke."
She has worked with a veterinarian and tried various treatments, so far without success. Because of his health problems, Freckles isn't ready for adoption. Instead, he's content to hang out with Rice's two dogs and two cats and enjoy his daily banana treat at "nanner time."
Come summer, Rice will try letting Freckles play outdoors with Sissy, her lop-eared rabbit, and Romeo, a brown bunny, who have the run of her woodsy backyard.
Taking action
Rice started volunteering with Utah Rabbit Rescue after her second pet rabbit got sick and died only a few months after she was adopted from a shelter. Rice says she was left wondering what she did wrong.
As she researched rabbit care online, Rice stumbled across the Utah group and ended up asking adoption coordinator Wendy Coulam how she could help.
During the past six years, Rice has learned plenty about the diet, health and behavior of bunnies. She's conducted rabbit-care seminars for adults and schoolchildren, and helped pet owners treat bunny illnesses or build better pens for their pets.
It can be tricky to approach folks referred to Utah Rabbit Rescue because of a problem with their rabbits, says Coulam.
"(Rice) is very good at going in and getting them to trust her that she's got their best interests at heart," Coulam says.
The Layton volunteer's willingness to care for Freckles and other disabled rabbits shows her compassion, Coulam says. And, she adds, Rice is dedicated to a type of work that quickly burns out many volunteers.
"Doing a rescue can be very emotionally draining because sometimes you just don't make any headway," Coulam says. But Rice keeps trudging along with a "long-term vision."
Stealing hearts
Veterinarian Brett Talbot, who has helped Rice with Freckles and other bunnies, says the rescue group does a good job of dispelling misinformation about rabbits.
"In fact, they've educated me a lot. In vet school, you don't work on lots of rabbits," says Talbot, owner of the Animal Care Veterinary Hospitals in Roy and West Haven.
"She's very knowledgeable, she's done her own research and can ask some very legitimate questions," he says. And, he adds, Rice is also open to hearing his opinions.
Treating rabbits is difficult because they are good at hiding signs of illness, Talbot says. Once owners realize something is wrong with their bunnies, "They're way sick, they're really sick, so you have a harder time fixing them."
A local organization like Utah Rabbit Rescue can help educate the public about such issues as the abandonment of bunnies, says Lisa Usher, who has two pet rabbits at her Farr West home.
Many people are unaware or consider rabbits to be "disposable" animals, says the volunteer for the House Rabbit Society, a national organization that discourages the purchase of live bunnies at Easter with the slogan "Make Mine Chocolate."
But to others, Usher says, "(Rabbits) have a way of just crawling under your skin and getting a piece of your heart and keeping it."
Hare-raising fun
Although Rice says she can't imagine her life without pets -- bunnies or otherwise -- it wasn't always so.
"My family was not into animals," Rice says. "Mom was kind of a clean freak."
Now, the purchasing technician for the Davis County School District shares her house with Oliver, a beagle, and Duke, a sheltie, and cats Gateway and Rumi -- most of them rescue animals, too. And Rice has even been known to baby-sit a friend's pet tarantula.
"Chi-Chi the tarantula -- how could you not? Somehow I lost the fear because of the name," she says.
Rice is the kind of person who frees the mice caught in sticky traps at her home -- a little extra-virgin olive oil does the trick -- and lets them loose outdoors.
"Everything has a purpose," she says.
As for rabbits, they're not only "stinking cute," but they're a different type of pet, Rice says. When folks walk down her street, they do a double take at the hoppity creatures in her yard.
"I always liked animals, I guess," she says. "You either like animals or you don't, and then you kind of wonder about people who say they don't. ... If they don't like animals and they don't like chocolate, I worry. I don't know about people like that."
THE BASICS OF RAISING RABBITS
Before you get a bunny as a pet, Dee Rice recommends knowing some basics:
* Bunnies crave attention. Putting rabbits in a hutch outdoors or in a cage in a bedroom isn't a good option. Bunnies are social animals and want to be part of your family, just like a dog or cat, Rice says.
* Small children and rabbits don't mix. Sure, they look soft and cuddly, but many bunnies don't really like to be held, Rice says. Freckles, a rescued rabbit Rice is caring for, barely tolerates being petted, she says. The more you work with the animals, the friendlier they will be.
* Rabbits don't live on carrots alone. Forget Bugs Bunny, rabbits need a diet of mostly hay and pellets. Some carrots or vegetables are OK, Rice says, as are occasional treats like apples and bananas. "They love sweets, the problem is, they're not good for them," she says.
* Spay and neuter. This reduces odor and behavior issues and is necessary because there are too many rabbits out there already needing homes, Rice says. "We really would like to stop the madness of breeding," she adds.
* Get bunny smart. Know how a healthy rabbit acts and learn to recognize signs of trouble. Bunnies need to be constantly eating, for example, Rice says, or "Their gut shuts down." Quick intervention is often needed for issues.
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