Bringing Global Rabbit Care Standards to Japan
Based on 30 years of rabbit-keeping experience in Japan and the US, we deliver rabbit care information in Japanese to protect the health and happiness of rabbits.
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BunnyCare JP is listed on the House Rabbit Society (HRS) as an International Partner.
Medical Care for Okunoshima's Sick and Injured Rabbits Please Sign Our Online Petition
The rabbits of Okunoshima suffer from abscesses caused by fighting, maggot infestations, broken bones, and gastrointestinal stasis, yet there is no public system to provide them with medical treatment.
We have started an online petition asking the Mayor of Takehara and the Chugoku-Shikoku Regional Environment Office of Japan's Ministry of the Environment to create a program that uses the "Okunoshima Visitor Tax" to fund treatment and spay/neuter.
Signing is free and takes just one minute. Please lend us your help.
What This Petition Asks For
To Takehara City
Please clearly include medical treatment and spay/neuter surgery for sick and injured rabbits in the planned uses of the proposed "Okunoshima Visitor Tax."
On Miyajima, also in Hiroshima Prefecture, a visitor tax is already being used to protect the island's environment.
To the Chugoku-Shikoku Regional Environment Office, Ministry of the Environment
- Add procedures to the rabbit risk management manual for connecting sick and injured rabbits with veterinary treatment.
- Start spay/neuter surgery as a small-scale pilot program, as a humane way to control breeding without culling.
Why We Need Your Signature Now
Most people who visit the island come to interact with and feed the rabbits. As long as people provide them with food and water, humans also share responsibility for the rabbits' health and lives.
The Ministry of the Environment and Takehara City have surveyed the number of sick and injured rabbits, but there is still no system to get the rabbits they find into treatment.
Takehara City is now considering a visitor tax. Now, before its uses are decided, is the time to make our voices heard and ask that medical care for the rabbits be included.
What Is Actually Happening on the Island
Since July 2024, we have been rescuing sick and injured rabbits on Okunoshima, funded entirely by private donations.
By June 2026, we had brought 28 sick and injured rabbits to veterinary care, with medical costs reaching approximately ¥7.5 million.
There is a limit to how long this can continue on individual goodwill alone.
→ See our rescue records and financial reports here: Okunoshima Rabbit Medical Rescue
Spay/Neuter Is a Way to Avoid Culling
When the rabbit population grows too large, competition for food and burrows leads to more fighting, and disease spreads.
Gradually reducing their numbers through spay/neuter surgery is a way to ease overcrowding and suffering on the island without killing the rabbits.