The creators of the city鈥檚 much-loved cat caf茅 鈥� 鈥� have teamed up with to bring Vancouverites a new, and incredibly cute, coffee spot on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver.
Instead of having a meet and greet with adorable cats and kittens in need of adoption, visitors can look forward to enjoying a 鈥榤eet and treat鈥� with fluffy bunnies looking for fur-ever families.
is a B.C.-based charity that works to save the lives of homeless, abandoned and feral pet rabbits. The charity creates and promotes predator-proof, sustainable and visually appealing rabbit sanctuaries and helps to control feral rabbit populations.
Rabbitats founder Sorelle Saidman, who started the charity back in 2012, said she was hoping the new caf茅 would boost rabbit adoptions and help address the province鈥檚 overpopulation issues. She said currently adoptions were slow and the charity was caring for about 350 rabbits.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely going to be the best thing for rescue,鈥� Saidman told Vancouver Is Awesome.
鈥淭he bunnies certainly need the assistance. There are way too many bunnies and way too few homes.鈥�
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Much like Catfe, the caf茅 area will be separate from the bunny lounge but designs are still in the works. Up to 20 bunnies will be hoping about in the sanctuary, but they鈥檒l have access to enclosures to hop into if they need a little private time.
Catfe, on West Pender Street in Downtown Vancouver, has been open for almost four years now and has helped 750 rescued cats find new homes, founder and owner Michelle Furbacher told V.I.A.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been so successful as an adoption model because people really get to get a feel for the animal鈥檚 personality and get to spend more time with them,鈥� she explained.
Furbacher said the idea for a bunny caf茅 came about after she visited a Rabbitats event at UBC and discovered how social and friendly the little critters could be.
鈥淚鈥檇 never really spent time with bunnies before that and it was just kind of a magical experience for me,鈥� Furbacher said. 鈥淎s soon as I walked in the room I was so delighted to be surrounded by all these bunnies. I had expected them to be quite nervous, but when I went into the room they were all just hopping around and being quite social.
鈥淐atfe has worked so well for getting cats adopted, I just thought, 鈥榳hat if we try and do the same thing for bunnies.鈥欌��
Furbacher held a pop up event in conjunction with Rabbitats in December last year and said the response was 鈥渙verwhelming.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know there were so many bunny lovers in Vancouver,鈥� she said.
The duo isn鈥檛 worried about attracting visitors to the caf茅.
鈥淢ichelle has done a great job with Catfe. Personally, of course, I think bunnies are even more of an attraction than cats,鈥� Saidman laughed.
鈥淚t was an amazing response in December so we鈥檙e really hoping that will follow through year round. There鈥檚 nothing cuter than being swarmed by a heard of little rabbits.鈥�
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Saidman said people will be able to feed the bunnies but they weren鈥檛 supposed to pet the rabbits because they were trying to replace the concept of petting zoos with a more humane interactive process where the animal has the choice of participating.
鈥淭he biggest joy is just watching people relate to bunnies because they don鈥檛 always realize that rabbits can be that interactive, friendly and sweet,鈥� Saidman said.
鈥淚t gives people a whole new outlook on rabbits, that鈥檚 going to be the main takeaway from the Bunny Caf茅."
It鈥檚 hoped the Bunny Caf茅 will be in full swing by Easter 2020.
Anyone who鈥檇 like to volunteer at the caf茅 can email [email protected]. Stay up to date with the progress of the caf茅 on and .
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