Please help the bunnies on Rabbit Island

I am 9 years old and I love bunnies. I have a Holland Lop named Watson. I love him a lot. I learned about Rabbit Island (Okunoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture) in a magazine called Animal Tales. I have seen videos on YouTube about Rabbit Island.

This week I saw a new video that showed that the rabbits on Rabbit Island were sick and injured and did not have enough food or water. It was a Lennon the Bunny video and the person who made the video had recently been to Rabbit Island. I'm doing a Take Action project in Girl Scouts, and I want to do something to help the sick and injured bunnies on Rabbit Island, so I am writing to The Japan Times.

The bunnies on Rabbit Island are not wild but are domesticated. Somebody brought domestic rabbits to the island, and they have been increasingly populating the island because they are not spayed or neutered. They get food by tourists feeding them. The food the tourists feed them is often not the best food for them, and if there aren't many tourists some days, they don't get enough food.

Bunnies need to eat all the time, not just sometimes, or they get sick. Because they are domesticated and not wild, people need to help them.

There are many ways organizations could help. Gardens with lettuce and herbs and fields of grass or hay could be planted. Consistent volunteers or workers are needed to feed them and give them water. The resort and tourist organizations should not advertise the bunnies as an attraction. Tourists need to be taught about the right foods to feed rabbits. Veterinarians could come to spay and neuter the bunnies and treat injuries and illnesses. But lots of ideas cost money. Fundraisers could raise money to help. Donation boxes could be put on the island to collect money to help.

Thank you for reading my letter. I hope you will help.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.