But one thing many people may not realize is that rabbits are ecologically-friendly pets. Here are seven ways that pet rabbits help contribute to a healthy environment.
You can grow a lot of their food yourself in a backyard garden. Growing your rabbit's food yourself helps the environment by cutting down on energy consumption and waste production caused by manufacturing, packaging, storing and shipping commercial food.
You can use both their recycled paper litter and their droppings in a compost pile, which will then fertilize your garden. In fact, rabbit droppings contain a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus which is essential for flower and fruit production. This is not true for carnivorous pets like cats and dogs. Their waste products are not recommended for compost heaps. Furthermore, many kinds of clay-based cat litter comes from strip mining and are non-degradable.
Even if you're not a gardener, you can purchase their main diet staple, grass hay, along with other vegetables, from local farmers, again diminishing waste products that result from shipping commercial food.
Rabbits are effective paper shredders. No need to waste money and electricity on an electric shredder- rabbits' teeth grow continuously, so they need objects to chew on a regular basis. They will happily destroy your sensitive documents.
Rabbits' favorite toys consist of items you would normally throw away or recycle. They love playing with toilet paper rolls, outdated phone books, old towels, cardboard boxes, etc.
Rabbits are content to run around in your house or apartment, so you don't have to make regular trips to the dog park. This reduces gas consumption and carbon emissions. In addition, because house rabbits stay inside and use their eco-friendly litterboxes, you don't have to worry about proper poop disposal like you do with dogs. Not only are many dog poop bags non-recyclable and non-degradable, but dog fecal bacteria currently pollutes our storm drain systems causing disease to humans and wildlife.
House rabbits are very clean animals and, in general, they manage to carry on relatively disease-free lives. This means a reduction of harmful chemicals and drugs associated with pet shampoos, flea and tick treatments, and other medications. These pollutants cause an array of problems such as drug-resistant bacteria, contamination of waterways, and health concerns for aquatic animals.
So there you have it: seven ways rabbits are eco-friendly. Just another benefit to owning a pet bunny!
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