Rabbit Hill is a special place: a sanctuary for animals rescued from research laboratories and vivisection. With the help of volunteers and vets, they find a new life and the serenity they had lost.
There is a special place for animals rescued from the hell of vivisection: it is called La collina dei conigli (Rabbit Hill) and it is a place where they can rediscover serenity and love, receive care, and find people capable of understanding the problems — great and small — that afflict these little beings who have escaped human cruelty.
"About fifteen years ago, a group of people began to form — people who had been involved in animal protection in various ways and for many years — and who found themselves facing the problem of a lack of genuine reception facilities for many 'non-conventional' companion animals, and in particular for those that could be rescued from research laboratories. That is how La Collina dei Conigli was born in 2005, at a meeting held not around a table, but sitting in a meadow," explained Stefano Martinelli, president of the association.
After years of work, research, effort and dreams, La collina dei conigli initially obtained a concession from the municipality of Monza for a space in which to set up the recovery centre for laboratory animals and for the small wild animals of the Monza park.
It was the fulfillment of a dream, but also the beginning of practical problems such as adapting the facilities and paying rent for the use of the space. This first centre was active until 2017, when the association opened a new facility, again in Monza.
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"Every year, in Italy alone, approximately 700,000 animals are used in research laboratories, rising to more than 100 million worldwide over the same period. Some of them undergo experiments that cause their death, while many others are used in trials from which they emerge in good condition; and given that the law does not permit the same specimen to be used more than once, generally all these animals are put down at the end of the experiment," Martinelli continues.
Laboratories may transfer to competent facilities all animals that, by virtue of the type of experimentation they have undergone, pose no danger to humans or other animals and can still have a normal life expectancy. This is provided for under Legislative Decree no. 26 of 2014.
At La Collina dei conigli a new life opens up for them: a space where they can live, run, play in the company of their own kind, and receive veterinary care — where needed — along with psychological support that allows these creatures to rediscover the peace and serenity that, in many cases, they have never known.
The facilities at the association's recovery centres are designed to give each rescued species its own space. There are rooms dedicated to rabbits, who are housed in large cages and to whom volunteers devote care and attention every day: cleaning them, feeding them, and taking turns to allow the free outings necessary to carry out the rehabilitation programme that will take them from solitude in a small cage to freedom in the company of their own kind and of human beings.
In other rooms there are the quarters for the mice and, finally, those for the rats — all neutered, and able to live together without problems, playing and interacting with one another. Then there are the rooms dedicated to guinea pigs: for them too there is an open space in which they can form social groups (which is extremely important for guinea pigs) and play.
The realised dream of La Collina dei conigli owes its existence — and above all its day-to-day running — to a group of volunteers who give their own money and free time to ensure a peaceful life for the small guests. Every animal at La Collina dei conigli is not merely a guest, but becomes above all a being in need of rehabilitation in order to once again be part of a community.
"Our greatest wish is that each one of them may find a human and animal family with whom to share their life," adds president Martinelli. Alongside the original La Collina dei conigli base in Monza, a Turin branch was established in 2016.
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"At this time of year, between rescuing animals from laboratories and from situations of mistreatment, attention is inevitably focused on the most urgent needs: how to manage to house everyone, how to find funds for neutering and medical care, how to find volunteers to look after the animals at our centres," Stefano Martinelli continues.
To cope with the countless needs that constantly arise in running the centres, La Collina dei conigli's volunteers are planning awareness campaigns, leaflets, and initiatives of all kinds to bring to light a reality that many of us ignore or underestimate.
La Collina dei Conigli is a project in constant evolution. Stefano Martinelli tells us: "Looking ahead, we will certainly need to increase our capacity, by expanding the existing centres and perhaps creating new ones. But it is important to have all the support necessary for activities as demanding as these, and for a volunteer organisation that brings together people with the same goals." Looking ahead, La Collina dei Conigli's activities are being directed along clearly defined lines. A communications aspect, to raise awareness of the problem of laboratory guinea pigs and their life after experimentation; the need to reduce the number of small guests requiring care; and moving beyond the notion that these animals can truly serve the purposes of research.
"In the meantime we continue with our everyday commitments, looking at the animals we care for and knowing that, for many of them, every day of life is the gift we bring through our work," Martinelli concludes. The work of La Collina dei Conigli, begun in 2005, still has a great deal ahead of it. But a small chink of light has opened in the darkness, and a different prospect is beginning to take shape — one that may finally bring an end to the world of laboratory animal exploitation.