Hong Kong rabbit cafe serves cuteness

A customer takes a photo as her friend offers food to a rabbit standing on its hind legs at the “Rabbit-land” cafe in Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP)

The newest addition to Hong Kong’s cafe scene is taking a soft approach to business — with 12 resident rabbits for customers to pet.

The “Rabbitland” bunnies munch on grass while visitors coo over them between sips of tea and bites of toasted sandwich.

Tucked away on the third floor of a high-rise in the busy commercial district of Causeway Bay, the cafe says it gives people who have no room to keep a pet in space-starved Hong Kong the chance to bond with the fluffy animals.

Most of the rabbits have been abandoned by previous owners. Hong Kong already has a number of “cat cafes”, but this is the first one for rabbits, inspired by a similar shop in Japan.

“I like how soft they are and like their fur and how gentle they are when you feed them,” says Natalie Chan, 11, whose mother had brought her to find out more about keeping rabbits as she wants one as a pet. The “Rabbitland” bunnies are not for sale.