Ohio House Rabbit Rescue has about 40 rabbits at a time and strives to educate potential adopters on the animals’ unique needs.

Tensions were high on Hogan and Lillie’s first date as they faced each other, nose to nose.

Minutes earlier, Hogan’s first attempt at speed-dating had not gone well. (It involved attempted biting.)

This date went better, but the two rabbits did not show enough affection to go home together, either, so Lillie was returned to her crate, and the search continued.

Hogan’s owners, Thomas Laser and Jessica Yurchison, were frustrated.

The Mansfield couple was visiting the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue facility in Worthington, hoping to find a friend — just a friend, not a mate — for the bunny they had acquired about a year ago from a rescue group in Michigan.

"He doesn’t recognize any social cues," Yurchison said. "He’s like the least-eligible bachelor."

The process — known as creating bonded pairs — was just one of many activities taking place in the 4,073-square foot, 18-room building on a recent Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere, volunteers were cleaning pens and litter boxes — rabbits can be easily litter-box trained — or sitting with rabbits to help socialize them to humans in preparation for adoption.

The Ohio House Rabbit Rescue was founded in 2009, and it operated for four years as a group of "foster parents" hosting rabbits in their homes.

The group’s 2013 acquisition of a building on High Street represented a big leap forward. Pat Barron, president of the board of directors, said that before the group had a house, it was adopting out about 25 rabbits a year. By last year, that number had grown to 150.

Barron said of getting a house: "We knew it would make a difference, and it really has. Using the foster system, people would have to go from this house to this house, whereas now, people can actually see all the rabbits at one time."

The Ohio House Rabbit Rescue is not the only such rescue group in central Ohio; the Columbus House Rabbit Society was founded in 2002 and relies on foster homes.

There’s plenty of work to go around: Rabbits are the third-most commonly relinquished animals, after cats and dogs, according to the Columbus House Rabbit Society.

Barron and others say that’s because many people don’t realize what it takes to properly care for rabbits, often buying them from pet stores and then surrendering them — or worse, abandoning them — after a few months.

The problem is acute in the months after Easter — April 12 this year — as many families adopt an "Easter Bunny" for their kids.

The Columbus House Rabbit Society has an informational campaign to discourage this practice called "Make Mine Chocolate." The society is sponsoring an event April 4 that will feature both rabbit groups at the Animal Health Organization in Lewis Center.

An important aspect of the job of an Ohio House Rabbit Rescue volunteer is to instruct prospective adopters on rabbit likes and dislikes and how to care for the creatures. Perhaps the most important advice is to get rabbits spayed and neutered. That can prevent "bad behavior," Barron said, and also odors.

The Ohio House Rabbit Rescue spays and neuters all its animals — at a cost of $250 to $350 each, Barron said — before adopting them out. The group relies on donations, grants and partnerships with businesses and organizations for support.

Another necessity is to keep rabbits in a spacious pen on the floor rather than in cages. Each pen measures 4 feet by 4 feet.

Barron said those wishing to adopt rabbits from the group should fill out an application, which needs to be approved. Then the new owners go home and prepare the rabbit’s habitat, and the rescue group delivers the rabbit.

"If we see that they have a cage instead of a pen, we are not leaving the rabbit," Barron said.

The group’s facility is open 10 hours a week: from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends.

On the recent Sunday, while Hogan dated, Chris Beafore was among the volunteers socializing bunnies and talking to prospective adopters.

The Dayton resident has owned several rabbits and got to know some of the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue volunteers, who persuaded him to start volunteering, he said. He has been working as a rescuer in the field for a few years, responding to calls from people who find an obviously domesticated rabbit wandering on their property. He ended up adopting one such rabbit.

"I think they’re amazing creatures," he said. "They’re just very intelligent and just neat. ... They’re kooky and have their own personalities."

In another room, Grandview Heights residents Miranda Gray and Nick Fala were sitting in pens, socializing two bunnies. They, too, previously adopted a rabbit after volunteering for a while.

Upstairs in the main room, where about 15 of the group’s 40 available rabbits are housed, Lewis Center resident Annie Stephens was watching her daughter Fiona, 11, and son Colin, 9, sit in rabbit pens and read books to the bunnies.

"They like to read to therapy dogs at the library, so I was looking for other opportunities for them, and I saw this online," Annie Stephens said. "It’s service hours for the kids, and it’s great reading practice."

And eventually, Hogan found a friend. On the fourth try, he bonded well enough with Belle that the two went home to Mansfield together. Belle was one of the rescue group’s longest-tenured residents.

"We will miss her," Barron wrote in an email, "but we’re so glad she has found a home and a ‘husbun.’"

kgordon@dispatch.com

@kgdispatch