rabbit trends on social media: why we walked away

Bunnies are not our entertainment.

We have always known that - but we did not always act like it.

This article is not written from a pedestal. It is written from experience -including our own participation in content we are no longer proud of. If BCB is going to ask the rabbit community to hold a higher standard, we are willing to hold ourselves to it first.

What Trends Actually Are

Social media trends exist because algorithms reward engagement - shares, saves, comments, and ultimately - replications. Content that generates a strong reaction spreads. Content that is educational, nuanced, or welfare-focused often does not spread as fast - it does not trigger the same immediate emotional response as something surprising, funny, or visually striking.

This is not a conspiracy; it is a design feature. Content most likely to go viral is not the content most likely to be good for your rabbit.

When a trend involving rabbits goes viral, what spreads is not information about rabbit welfare. What spreads is a behavior - and rabbit parents replicate it with their own rabbits, often without any of the context, training, or safeguards that may have existed in the original video. The algorithm does not care what happens to the rabbits in the comments section. But you do.

The Trends That Cause Direct Physical Harm

The Bunny Tail Trend
This trend involved pulling or extending a rabbit's tail to reveal their true length - countering the perception that rabbit tails are round like a cotton ball. What audiences saw as an interesting reveal caused real harm. BCB received phone calls and messages from rabbit parents whose rabbits had gone into GI stasis after repeated tail manipulation for content. Stasis is a life-threatening condition. A rabbit stressed into stasis for a video that received a thousand views is not a tradeoff anyone should be making.

A rabbit's tail is not a prop for a reveal. It is attached to their spine.

The Bunny Tongue + Lip Color Trend
This trend involved manipulating a rabbit's mouth to reveal the color of their tongue - used as a lipstick color match reference. BCB received direct calls from rabbit parents whose rabbits had been injured to the point of bleeding attempting to replicate this content. Rabbit mouths are delicate. Forcing access to them, particularly from a rabbit who has not been trained for oral handling (which is most likely 99.9% of them), is not a color swatch. It is a welfare violation.

The Dancing Bunny Trend
Videos of rabbits being held upright and swayed to music read as charming to audiences who do not know what they are looking at. What they are watching is a rabbit being held in a position that compromises their spine - the same spine that, under sudden movement or in a moment of panic, can fracture (and even break). Rabbit spines are both fragile and powerful. The same hind legs that allow your rabbit to leap several feet can generate enough force to break their own vertebrae if they kick out unexpectedly while being restrained. This is not a rare edge case. We have seen this happen many a time - rarely do the rabbits make a full recovery.

The Trends That Cause Indirect Harm

Not all harmful content causes immediate physical injury. Some creates false impressions that rabbit parents then act on - with real consequences for their rabbits over time.

Mukbang-Style Rabbit Content
We have participated in this. We are saying that directly because transparency matters more than reputation management.

Mukbang content, videos of rabbits surrounded by large quantities of treats and produce, eating enthusiastically on camera, go viral because it is genuinely delightful to watch. Rabbits are enthusiastic eaters. A rabbit in front of a spread of fruit and vegetables looks happy, healthy, and well-loved.

In our own mukbang-style videos, our rabbits were only allowed half of one treat. The spread was for the camera -but the content created the impression that this was a normal or aspirational way to feed a rabbit. Unfortunately, rabbit parents watching replicated it and fed their rabbits quantities of sugar-dense treats that contributed to GI upset, cecotrope issues, and in some cases stasis.

We stopped making this content when we understood what it was modeling.

The harm from aspirational content is slower and less visible than the harm from the tail or tongue trends - but it is real, and it compounds over time. A rabbit fed excessive treats every day because their rabbit parent saw it on someone's page is a rabbit with a shorter, less healthy life than they deserved.

BCB's Own Reckoning

Prior to the Bun Chia Burrow, we used to participate in trends. We did it because it grew our audience, it was fun, and if we are being completely honest - we did not always think carefully enough about what we were modeling because we did not think it was our responsibility to do so.

We have walked away from that. Part of growing up is acknowledging what you did not know when you did not know it - and changing course when you do. We have been actively boycotting Meta platforms entirely, but beyond just rabbit welfare. It is about refusing to participate in systems that prioritize engagement over everything else, including the wellbeing of the animals and communities they affect.

There is a difference between documenting your rabbit's life in a way that educates and connects, and manufacturing moments for engagement that your rabbit did not consent to and would not choose. We are not anti-content. We are against using our rabbits as content when that content does not serve their welfare.

Rabbits are not props. They are not entertainment.

What Responsible Rabbit Content Actually Looks Like

BCB is building @bunnycareandbehaviors as our answer to this question. The standard we hold ourselves to:

• Content is educational or documentary: it shows real rabbit behavior with context, not manufactured moments

• Nothing is forced, staged, or repeated for a better shot

• If a rabbit is uncomfortable, filming stops: not after we get the take

• We do not participate in trends that require our rabbits to do something they have not been trained and consented to do

• We do not model feeding, handling, or housing practices we would not recommend to a client

This is not a perfect standard. We will make mistakes. It is the standard we are committed to, and the one the rabbit community deserves from anyone with a platform.

On Organizations With a Following

Organizations with a platform - rescues, rabbit businesses, educators - bear a particular responsibility for the content they post. An audience that trusts you will replicate what you model. A rescue that posts a dancing bunny video is not just making content. They are telling their followers and community that this is acceptable handling. This implicit endorsement spreads further and faster than any disclaimer in a caption ever will.

We expect more from organizations that ask the public to trust them with animals. If you are asking people to adopt from you, donate to you, or follow your lead on rabbit care - you are held to a higher standard than a random account.

Act like it. not all rescues or shelters are created equal →

The Ask

If you have a following - even a small one - you ultimately have influence. The rabbit community is small enough that content spreads fast and gets replicated widely. What you post, other rabbit parents will do.

We are not asking for perfection. We are asking for intention. Before you film your rabbit for content, ask:

• Is my rabbit comfortable right now?

• Am I asking them to do something they have been trained for?

• Does this content accurately represent what rabbit care looks like?

• Would I be comfortable if a rabbit welfare organization watched this?

If the answer to any of those is no - put the phone down.

Your rabbit did not consent to being content. That is not a trend -that is a fact.