男人弥尔顿的关键nes half marathon dressed as giant bunny to raise awareness of rabbit crisis

An animal lover is running next week’s MK’s half Marathon dressed as a giant bunny to raise awareness of a rabbit crisis locally.

Steve Norman will be donning the furry costume on Bank Holiday Monday and sweltering his way through the course to raise cash for theMilton Keynes and North Bucks RSPCA branch.

You can view his fundraising pagehere.

Steve’s wife Louise has been volunteering for Milton Keynes and North Bucks RSPCA for the past three years and is their Small Animal Coordinator.

She deals with hundreds of pet rabbits that are being abandoned or neglected and in urgent need of new homes.

A spokesman for the branch said: “We are fighting a battle against the current rabbit crisis and the surge of ALL animals coming into rescue.

“There are simply too many animals and not enough homes and rescue spaces for them all. Every day we are dealing with abandoned, dumped and neglected animals and on top of this the cost of living crisis has meant people are struggling to afford to keep their animals so we are running a food bank every week to help people feed them.

"There has also been an increase in people breeding animals and we really don't need more animals being brought into the world. So when people can't sell them they are turning to rescues as a way of ‘getting rid’, which is adding to our already long waiting list.”

The spokesman added: “We appreciate how tight money is but every £1 donated will really make a difference to us.”

Nationally, the RSPCA is backing a breeding amnesty aimed at tackling the surge in rabbits being abandoned while rescue centres are at bursting point.

They say thousands of pet rabbits have been abandoned as a result of lockdown breeding and the cost-of-living crisis, which has impacted on owners who cannot afford to keep their pets.

The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWA&F) is demanding the breeding and sale of all pet rabbits ceases while the issue is resolved.

They have launched a petition calling for a change in legislation to ensure rabbit breeders require the same licensing as dog breeders in a bid to improve rabbit welfare.