"rabbits don’t want human interaction. They want a field to run in, burrow in, plants to eat and chose themselves and other rabbits to mate with."
We live out in the country, and every once in a while are lucky enough to have a family of wild rabbits born and play right on our doorstep. It’s so much fun to watch. Then they start getting picked off, one by one.
This year RHD2 killed two, judging by the blood on the mouth; it’s terrible to witness their death throes. Then a crow grabbed another, a horror movie right before our eyes. The last corpse I found in our garden may have been the leftovers from a fox, I don’t know. Nature red in tooth and claw. Wild rabbits don’t tend to make it to a ripe old age: one or two years, tops.
While that’s not an excuse to put them in cages (personally I don’t much like them either), pet rabbits usually live far longer – well over a decade, if you’re lucky. It’s encouraging that the idea of free range house rabbits has caught on, as you develop quite a bond with them and they with you. You have to experience it to believe it.
As for rabbits needing rabbity company, I agree that’s probably ideal, especially if they’re left on their own a lot. But if you give one plenty of company, and he or she is suited to it (they do have different personalities, just like people), it can work. I would challenge anyone to find signs of unhappiness in ours.
The attached picture is of a wild rabbit I befriended years ago after pretending to groom. He would approach me for food, after I was foolish enough to give him carrots (too sugary, which I later learned!) He was too shy to come in the house though.
Video is Chompsky, whose linguistic abilities are limited to “mm-mm-mm”, which granted, can mean many things, depending on the context.