Let’s take a moment to observe: Bunnies!Photo: Jannes Pockele
Humans and our waste create a crapload of problems for the environment. Both a growing population and the attempt to curb it (with birth control pills) are increasing the amount of the sex hormone estrogen in wastewaters — which doesn’t get filtered out — creating shemale fishes and frogs, along with a host of other reproductive issues for wildlife.
Thankfully, researchers at the University of Cincinnati have hopped onto a possible solution for our oversexed waste solutions: rabbit chow.
Yup, bunny food. No, I’m not talking Cadbury creme eggs, bunny grahams, or the “normal stuff” (corn dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese) the Playboy bunnies usually nibble. Just regular ol’ rabbit pellets, the kind made of ground-up plants and the inspiration for most natural cereals.
Rabbit food appeared to transform and absorb up to 80 percent of both naturally occurring and synthetic estrogens, completely beating out the four other types of materials tested (a milk protein, starch, an amino acid, and clay). Too bad the bunny snacks (and all the others) failed to pull male sex hormones out of the water. Have they tried baking soda? It works on pretty much everything else.
My only concern about this finding is if we start diverting massive amounts of bunny food toward a cheap fix for our wastewater problems, Peter Rabbit and friends may be high-tailing more undercover raids to the devastation of our urban community gardens.
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