Club brings bunnies to Prospect library each month
PROSPECT — Taking care of nearly 200 rabbits in her family barn, 16-year-old Sarah Bupp does her best to socialize as many of them as possible, whether that be by taking them to shows, or to the Prospect Community Library for reading sessions.
Sarah, of Franklin Township, has run a Books with Bunnies program since 2019 at the Prospect library, where, once a month, she brings about a dozen rabbits to the stacks for children to read alongside.
According to Sarah, the socialization is good for the rabbits, as well as the children, who might not get other opportunities to interact with domesticated rabbits.
“Since I don’t get them all out, I take them here so they get some socialization,” Sarah said Monday, March 3. “The point of this is to educate people about rabbits, and give people opportunities to play with them. A lot of people come in and they have not had the chance to get this close with a rabbit.”
After raising rabbits since she got her first one at 2 years old, Sarah won the title of Pennsylvania Rabbit Queen at this year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show, which took place in January. In addition to representing rabbit royalty at Butler County events, like the Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show, Sarah will travel the state to represent rabbits at other events, according to her mother, Deb Alley Bupp.
“She’s also a dairy ambassador, so anywhere they get invited to, she shows up to represent,” Bupp said. “We’re hoping to fit in some fairs and festivals around the state.”
Children crowded the youth section of the Prospect Community Library on Monday, March 3, where rabbits of different breeds and sizes hopped around. Children were encouraged to pick whatever book they wanted to read to the rabbits during the program.
Books with Bunnies is managed by Sarah, her mother and members of the Butler Bunni Bunch, a 4-H rabbit club in Butler County that the Bupps head up.
Even though rabbits have excellent hearing, many of the children only made it through part of their books in favor of cuddling the fluffy friends.
“The idea is to be with the rabbits,” Bupp said. “There’s not always a lot of reading going on.”
Although the reading part of the program could fall away because of the excitement of animals, Suzanne Adams, children’s librarian at Prospect Community Library, said the program has gotten more children through the library’s doors.
“It’s great for the kids because they like to sit and read stories to them,” Adams said. “It’s really good for the community, it gives everyone the chance to interact with (rabbits).”
Sarah agreed that just having children play with the rabbits was good for everyone there.
“The show ones get taken to shows a lot, the ones who are just in the barn, I still socialize them, but don’t pay as much attention,” Sarah said. “It’s for educational purposes and socializing the rabbits — and it’s just fun for kids.”
To become the Rabbit Queen of Pennsylvania, Sarah had to go through numerous trials featuring rabbits.
Showing rabbits is different from showing other livestock animals, like goats, cattle or sheep — a rabbit does not have to be 100% one breed to be shown as that breed.
“With rabbits, unlike a lot of the other ones, they’re judged on how they look,” Sarah said. “They’re not judged on pedigrees. Other animals, you have to have a pedigree to show them. You can, technically, show a rabbit if it looked like a Polish, even if it’s not a full Polish.”
One of the challenges Sarah had to take on at the state farm show was judging rabbits, ones that was brought by other contestants at the show.
“I competed in an interview presentation, and then breed ID — where you go in and have to identify the breed and color, as well as the class, which is what they show in,” Sarah said. “I did judging, which there is four groups of four rabbits that I have to judge. Then a judge will come in and judge it the way they think it would be judged, and I try to match up with what they chose.”
Emmalyn Schaffner, 13, a member of Butler Bunni Bunch, said showing rabbits was different from goats, which she also shows.
“For goats, you take them in the ring and walk them in circles, so they have showmanship,” Emmalyn said. “Rabbits are easier to show. For rabbits you put them on the table and the judge looks at them.”
Emmalyn, of Butler, helped facilitate the Books with Bunnies on March 3.
On the days Sarah is not bringing her rabbits to the library, or showing them at farm shows, she is at her home caring for her 170-plus rabbits. She said she spends about three hours a day feeding them and checking on them, and even more time when she’s cleaning the cages.
Even though the rabbits keep her busy, Sarah said this is what she has wanted since she was a toddler.
“I have had a pet rabbit since I was 2,” Sarah said. “I saw a rabbit and said I want to raise rabbits.”
Books with Bunnies begins at 4 p.m. on the first Monday of every month at the Prospect Community Library, 357 Main St. in Prospect.
