I'm new to house rabbit activism—prior to this I usually kept it to myself, but recently I am more and more involved in rabbit rescue and have been trying to educate people how to better care for their rabbits.
We have a local Buy Nothing Facebook group (if you don't know what it is, it's a localized Facebook group that allows you to post stuff you don't need to see if others need it, or if you need something you can ask in the group). A woman was asking for a corner rabbit litter box and a water bottle. I replied by saying that I have a medium-sized cat litter box to pass on, and a water bowl is easier for a bunny to drink from instead of a water bottle, which I was also willing to give away.
The woman messaged me and said that she would like to have the water bowl; as for the litter box, she needed to see if it's too big for the hutch.
The "hutch" raised a red flag for me. I'm strongly against putting rabbits in an outdoor hutch, but I also know that keeping a bunny in a hutch is normalized for a lot of people. I first apologized to the woman and said I never wanted to overstep, and then told her that a bunny needs space to exercise; a hutch wouldn't be able to provide that. She could use the hutch as a hidey space for her bunny. I also informed her that if bunny-proofing an entire house is too overwhelming, she could start with a dog exercise pen, which I could provide to her if needed.
She replied by saying that that her family has been keeping outdoor rabbits for years without a problem. Keeping a bunny inside her house is not feasible for them, because they have 2 large dogs in the house and 4 young kids running around. She then proceeded to tell me that she's involved in animal rescue and is treating her animals well—"my previous rabbits were happy to be kept that way", which I highly doubt.
At this point I was prepared to ditch the conversation—I didn't want to argue with someone on the phone over my morning coffee time. So I gave her the measurements of the litter box, and told her that if she needed the water bowl and the litter box, I could put them on my porch.
I never received an reply.
I was wondering, for those of you who advocate for house rabbits—how should you approach this conversation? I know people can be defensive, sensitive & stubborn on this subject, and I don't want to come off as someone who's telling them what they should do. But I also feel like I didn't handle this conversation very well; had I convinced the woman, her new bunny would live a much better life. But right now the bunny is being prepared to live in an outdoor hutch forever, and that breaks my heart.
Pic is my bunnies, for tax & attention. Thank you!!!