If Peter Cottontail lived in modern-day Baton Rouge, he’d certainly have a friend in Wendy Lincoln.
Lincoln is the founder of Magic Happens, a Baton Rouge-based group that takes in abandoned pet rabbits and a small number of guinea pigs and finds them loving homes.
Lincoln said she started rescuing rabbits on her own in 2003, and the Magic Happens Rabbit Rescue was born a year later when she found a group of like-minded people.
Lincoln said Magic Happens has adopted out 466 animals since the organization was founded.
Unlike most animal rescue groups, Magic Happens doesn’t house its rabbits and guinea pigs in a shelter. Lincoln said all the animals are kept in foster homes in Baton Rouge, and most of the rabbits live in her own home.
Lincoln said people buy and adopt rabbits during Easter, but it’s a hasty act.
She said the number of rabbits given to Magic Happens increases each year after the bunny-centered holiday.
“You don’t get a reindeer for Christmas,” she said. “Why would you get a rabbit for Easter?”
Lincoln said Magic Happens usually keeps 20 to 30 rabbits but currently has 40 in its program, which she attributes to the Easter season.
Lincoln said she recently received a rabbit from a family because a young girl won it as a prize at the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival.
“The people she was with let her keep it, but her parents couldn’t keep it,” she said.
Lincoln said she has found that most people don’t think about their decision before they hop on over to the pet store.
“It’s very impulsive,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln said rabbits are less expensive to keep than dogs or cats because they don’t require shots or heartworm medication, but they’re more demanding every day because they need constant attention.
“You need to scoop the litter box every day. They need fresh greens and water,” she said. “They can be very bossy.”
Lincoln also said rabbits need to spend time with their owners outside their cages.
“Rabbits are meant to be on the move all the time, not cooped up in a cage,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln said she thinks rabbits make good pets for college students because they tend to keep similar schedules, but students should seriously consider the commitment they’re making before adopting.
She said Magic Happens places some of its rabbits in foster homes with college students.
Heather Weems attended the University as a business management sophomore last semester.
Weems said she and her roommate kept two rabbits in their apartment last semester and had to give them to friends after a few months because they were unable to care for them during winter break.
She said rabbits don’t make good apartment pets because of the smell of their cages, but they may appeal to college students because they’re relatively low-maintenance.
Weems said she and her roommate wanted an animal for their apartment and settled on a rabbit because her roommate was allergic to cats and they thought a dog would require too much work.
“We enjoyed it for a short period of time, but then they just got too large,” she said.
Weems said the rabbits became difficult to clean and feed when they started growing.
Brendan Jacob, kinesiology sophomore, said he thinks Lincoln’s work is important because of the large number of people who try to keep rabbits as pets.
“It’s better than throwing a little rabbit into the wilderness,” he said. “I’d feel bad about that.”
Amanda Glaudi, accounting freshman, said her roommate has a pet rabbit, so Lincoln’s cause hits close to home for her.
She said she’d consider volunteering for the organization and was happy to see it becoming more visible in the community.
“I guess it’s a hidden cause,” Glaudi said. “But it’s something that really needs to be addressed.”
Lincoln said she’d like to see Magic Happens move into a real shelter at some point, but she’s not sure where the funds would come from.
“Everybody looks at sad puppies in the pound and on those commercials, and they’re quick to donate,” she said. “But no one really donates for bunnies.”
Lincoln also said the group would have to increase the number of its volunteers if it were to occupy an official shelter.
“If we could do it, it would be a dream,” she said.
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]