Edmonds resident Robert Manciu didn’t know that the weekend he had set aside to propose to his girlfriend was going to turn into an animal rescue mission.

Manciu had the ring and planned to pop the question to Edmonds’ Jenna Nand during a romantic Labor Day weekend getaway in Skagit County. Instead, the couple’s focus turned to 33 rabbits they spotted on a small farm outside of Concrete that were packed inside an 8-foot-by-2-foot cage designed for only one rabbit.

Many of the rabbits — Flemish Giants and Black Otter mixes five weeks to five months old — were malnourished, sick or injured from being piled on top of each other like a rock concert mosh pit. The cage’s wiring was also cutting into some of their feet, and there was only one water bottle.

“I was pretty upset because I’ve been active in animal rescue for a couple of years,” said Nand, who also serves on the Edmonds City Council. “I bit my tongue and I approached the family in the [farmhouse] and offered to buy them.”

Nand and Manciu were camping on a campground located on the small farm where they spotted the caged rabbits. Nand also observed that there were other animals on the farm, including chickens, geese, dogs and a goat, but they were all outdoors, roaming around the area.

“I don’t see the point of contacting animal control because [they] only intervene if animals don’t have food or water,” Nand explained. “So it doesn’t matter how crowded or unsanitary or unpleasant a living environment is for animals.” 

During the weekend, Nand fed the rabbits apples and other treats with permission from the family on the farm. “They would mob the food. I’ve never seen rabbits so hungry,” she said.

Before they left the camp, Nand convinced the family to sell all the rabbits for $223, which was all the cash she had on her. That comes to about $6.75 per rabbit — a huge markdown from $20 per rabbit that the family had originally bid. She and Manciu put the rabbits in four cardboard boxes and transported them to Bunanza Rabbit Rescue in Lynden, Washington.

Nand said that after she called Bunanza owner Liz Gilette, news spread to the nearby farms, and many people came over and sheltered some of the rabbits.

“We’ve already started to perform spay and neuter surgeries so they can be safely adopted out,” Nand said. “Bunanza and most reputable rabbit rescues will not adopt out rabbits unless they’ve been altered because of overpopulation.”

Nand added that many backyard rabbit breeders think that having a rabbit farm will be an easy source of organic meat, but they later find out that it is quite expensive to raise rabbits for meat. “It’s not very economical if they were to do it as a business,” she said.

In 2017, the Census of Agriculture reported more than 495,000 rabbits were raised for meat in the U.S., compared to 852,000 rabbits in 2012. The number of farms that raised rabbits dropped from 5,026 to 4,186. The 2022 census is not published yet. However, rabbit farming is a huge business in Asia, Mediterranean Europe and parts of western Africa, with Asia accounting for nearly 70% of the total world output of rabbit meat from 2010 to 2016. 

China alone produced more than 80% of the total Asian volume, exporting 5,800 to 11,000 tons per year, making up 16% to 31% of the global rabbit meat export. But unlike beef, pork and chicken, rabbit is mostly eaten as a delicacy in restaurants and street food stalls. 

Meanwhile in Europe, the countries of Spain, France and Italy are the top three rabbit meat producers, making up 83% of rabbit farms in the European Union in 2018. In recent years, some agriculture researchers in Italy studied how different housing types for rabbits affect the cost of farming and caring for rabbits. Based on five years of data, the 2020 study found almost no differences between variable costs and fixed costs for Italian farmers if they use the typical bicellular cages, dual-purpose cages or “structurally enriched cages.”

The researchers proposed that for the sake of “good welfare practices” in rabbit farming, farmers should replace traditional bicellular cages with structurally enriched cages, which may provide better hygiene conditions for the rabbits while remaining “economically sustainable, provided that market prices remain acceptable.”

Nand doesn’t think the family on the farm are “bad people” or kept the rabbits in the cramped conditions out of malice. “It was out of ignorance,” she said. “Pet stores perpetuate the falsehood that this is appropriate housing for rabbits. Most people don’t realize rabbits are much like cats or dogs, and they can be literally trained. And they free roam like your dogs and cats. At the very least, a rabbit should be in an exercise pen that has a minimum of 4 by 4 square feet of space for them to move around — enough for at least two hops. They have a lot of energy.”

Nand already has five rabbits in her home. She and Manciu did not adopt any of the 33 rabbits — at least not yet.

“It’s the most memorable weekend,” Manciu said. “I had to make sure that this was going to pull through and be successful if I were to propose to her that weekend. I’m just happy that [the bunnies] get a second chance at life.”

“I knew he had the ring but I didn’t know when he was going to propose,” Nand added. “And I just wasn’t in that mindset to even think about that. I was just thinking about those poor rabbits.” 

For those who are wondering – the proposal did take place and Nand said yes.

Bunanza Rabbit Rescue is raising $10,000 to care for all 33 rescued rabbits, which is about $300 per rabbit. The amount covers food, vaccination, alter surgery and other medical care. Donations can be made on Spotfund.

— Story by Nick Ng

— Photos courtesy Jenna Nand