What you can do for rabbits during scorching hot summer

7/19/26

Summer on Okunoshima is long and sweltering. The heat on this island in the Seto Inland Sea is truly tropical; the thermometer at the No. 2 Pier often registers a higher temperature than the official reading for Takehara City shown on an iPhone.

Amidst this heat, the rabbits struggle desperately to survive. They try to cool off by digging into the ground and lying flat against the earth.

They spend much of the day asleep, remaining motionless in the shade. Not a few rabbits succumb to heatstroke when the heat becomes too much for them to bear.

When filling the water buckets placed in the shade all over the island, please also sprinkle water on the surrounding soil. This temporarily lowers the ground temperature, allowing the rabbits to lie flat on their bellies and cool off; whenever the shaded soil is watered, the rabbits invariably lie down on it.

Please do whatever you can to help ease their suffering, even just a little, on this harsh island.