Rabbits, owners pack a charter bus headed to Reno

The next time you see a charter bus rolling down the highway, don’t always assume it’s loaded with people.

In the case of a charter bus that left Owatonna Oct. 27 and returned Nov. 3, it was packed with rabbits—380 of furry creatures to be exact.

Rabbit owners from South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota showed up at the Steele County Fairgrounds to board their pets for the national convention of the American Rabbit Breeder’s Association in Reno, Nevada.

And it took a little maneuvering on behalf of the operators of Cavalier Coaches in Owatonna to accommodate the load. They had to remove 21 seats from the bus in order to make room for the rabbits.

When organizer Richard Steinberg of Owatonna approached Steve Hale, manager at Cavalier Coaches, about chartering a bus, Hale immediately volunteered that they could remove the seats to handle the special load.

“I didn’t even have to convince him to do it,” Steinberg said.

The rabbits were loaded in small cages and bungee tied together so they wouldn’t slide around on the trip, said Steinberg.

Once the group loaded up in Owatonna, it traveled to Des Moines to pick up 14 more people from Iowa, Michigan and Oklahoma. They eventually made it to Reno where they joined 13,000 other rabbits featuring 50 breeds for the convention. The rabbits came from all over the U.S. as well as Japan and Malaysia.

Steinberg is involved with the Rochester Rabbit Club. He had been one of the organizers of the Owatonna Area Rabbit Club in 1972, but it disbanded because of a lack of membership about 15 years later.

Even though Steinberg sold all his rabbits in September after having them for 51 years, he still plans to remain actively involved with rabbit industry. He coordinates a large rabbit show at the Steele County Fairgrounds each May in which 20 judges are brought in from across the country. They initially started out utilizing the Foundation Building, but they’ve moved to the Radel Building in recent years to gain more space.

“I just like doing it,” Steinberg said. “I enjoy keeping rabbit people happy.”

Blame the Easter Bunny for sparking Steinberg’s interest in rabbits. In 1971, he decided to get his 4-year-old son a rabbit for Easter and found one from a neighbor. Soon afterwards he was attending rabbit shows and continued raising them for five decades.

Over the years Steinberg estimates he has been to at least 30 rabbit conventions all around the country.

And in Steinberg’s case, he has found that all good things come to an end sooner or later.

“I decided 51 years of raising rabbits is enough,” he said.

However, Steinberg is already planning to take in next year’s convention in Louisville. The organization will be celebrating its 100th anniversary and more than 20,000 rabbits are expected to show up.

But he already knows one thing. A charter bus will not be needed as most rabbit owners choose to drive to Louisville on their own.