Killer Bunnies

The Meadowvale Community Centre in Mississauga, Ontario played host to Bunfest this past weekend. What's that, you say? Well, as Julie Slack explains in the Mississauga News:

Organizers of Canada's first-ever bunny convention at the Meadowvale Community Centre say Bun-Fest was a hare-raising experience.

Crowds of bunny owners brought their pets to the weekend event for a day of fun and frolic courtesy of Rabbit Rescue Inc., a non-profit organization that is Canada's largest rabbit rescuer. The idea was to promote rabbits as great house pets.

And they seem to be making converts.

Tori Gass, 28, of Halifax, boarded a plane the day before with her pet rabbit Jack, who even got first-class seating at her feet, and headed for BunFest. She's a journalist who is doing a documentary on the benefits of rabbit ownership.

"When I heard there was a rabbit convention, I knew I had to be here, for sure," said Gass, who has owned rabbits for more than 10 years. "I want people to know that rabbits are lovable, sweet pets that can be totally litter trained."

Moreover,

One couple said attending Bun-Fest was affirmation that they are "totally normal." Rachel Finan and Adam Potts brought along their three rabbits, Yasmin, Hector and Poppy, for their "first family outing.”

Admittedly rabbits don't have quite the depth of house-pet PR that dogs and cats enjoy, nor the exotic pet chic of, say, ferrets or monkeys. But they definitely have it all over hamsters and gerbles. All we need to do is get over all the witchcraft-obsessed devil bunny libels that litter popular culture and infect the popular imagination. Sometimes red-eye is just red-eye; it doesn't have to signify demonic possession.



And a Monty Python sketch is just a Monty Python sketch.



Anyway, if the bunny pet thing doesn't work out, well there's always this.

Photo credit: Jack of Hearts blog