Memorable rabbits Part 20 Hand

Mr. Hand was a young rabbit

The front left leg appeared to be broken.

Undeterred by the injury, he tried his best to eat.

Did Mr. Hand know what lay in store for him?

10/4/26

The young rabbit I named "Mr. Hand" had an injured front left leg.

For a rabbit so young, surviving on this island with an injury like that is all but impossible.

Why aren't we allowed to take such rabbits to a veterinary clinic?

This is a question we ourselves have grappled with for years.

Item number 4 on the sign from that time (pic 5) stated:

Do not bring pets (animals). Do not take rabbits out.

Directly beneath that, it read:

Abandoning animals is prohibited by laws such as the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals.

This was precisely why I thought that taking a rabbit out to the hospital might also be against the law.

I vividly remember the shock I felt in June 2024—when we first took a sick rabbit (memorable rabbits part 4) off the island—upon realizing that removing the rabbits did not actually violate the law.

It felt as though I had been struck on the head by the realization that, until then, we had effectively left rabbits in need of medical care to die.

The current signage does not explicitly mention "animal abandonment"; instead, the message is conveyed via posters.

Rescuing rabbits for medical treatment is extremely difficult. This is because returning a rabbit to the island after treatment constitutes animal abandonment—a criminal offense. Consequently, a foster owner must be found to provide lifelong care. Yet, unaware of the immense challenge this entails, people flood the comments sections with demands that any sick or injured rabbit be taken to a vet.

Rescuing the rabbits of Okunoshima requires a revision of current rules.