So warm and cuddly — and that’s just the guys
Rabbit lovers enlist eye candy to help their rescue mission
You won’t find them in the corridors of the late Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion, but these bunnies may set hearts racing.
It took a lot of bananas and considerable rabbit herding before South African women — countless bunny kisses later — had a new bunny and hunk to swoon over every month next year.
The Buns+Guys 2018 calendar is the brainchild of freelance editor Annica Marincowitz, who wanted to raise funds for Bunny Huggers South Africa — a group with more than 2 500 members who rescue pet rabbits in distress.
“Our membership is over 85% female,” she said. “And we all love looking at bunnies. I figured a hot guy with a cute bunny on a calendar would be a winning combination.
“Also, blokes with bunnies is something different, and I am hoping the novelty value of that will draw attention to our product.”
But finding a good-looking chap to pose with a bunny was “surprisingly difficult”.
“Guys are not that keen to pose for the camera. I thought it would be easy to get members to volunteer the services of their handsome boyfriends, but not at all. That was very interesting,” Marincowitz said.
“Then you might find a good-looking guy who is happy to pose, but he doesn’t connect with the bunny. That was also a very important requirement — that the models have a rapport with the rabbit. If a guy is not comfortable with the bunny, it shows — the picture is not good at all.”
After a trip down the rabbit hole, she enlisted a yoga instructor, hair stylist, tattoo artist, sculptor, former rock star, bodybuilder and a professional model — among others — to help the cause.
Never picked first for anything, Mr January, Jaun Geyer, said he was “honoured” to be the man that South African women will start the new year with.
The 25-year-old systems analyst said the shoot was fun, even if the bunny, Apollo, tried to hop away several times.
Mr March, Luke Bresler, 34, was suited up and handed a wicker basket with flowers, carrots, and two of the “most well-behaved buns”.
“The best lighting was on a small stepping bridge, so for most of the shoot I was trying to figure out where to put the other bun if one of them jumped into the water and I had to rescue it, suited up and all,” said Bresler, who develops apps.
“They stayed perfectly still except for the occasional lick, and I stayed dry. We ended the day with a beer for me and a treat for the buns. They really were the stars of the show; I was just their transport for the day.”
Bresler joked that some women who had seen the photograph had asked if there was space in his basket for them.
Mr October, Shane Copeland, had no idea he would be posing with two Flemish Giant bunnies at the tattoo parlour in Cape Town where he works until the photo-shoot “just happened”.
Marincowitz said: “The photographer and the bunny owner simply walked in and requested that the tattoo artists hold some bunnies for a photograph. Luckily the guys were all good sports.”
The calendar, which sells for R100, can be ordered by sending an e-mail to bunnycalendar2018@gmail.com, or connect with the group at facebook.com/groups/BunnyHuggersSA.