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At a cat adoption middle in Boise, Idaho, the resident mascot – a buff tabby tuxedo named Crash – holds the consideration of the one cat to ever function the Cadbury Egg “Bunny.” And he’ll even placed on his cute rabbit ears generally!
Crash’s journey began with a trauma that impressed his identify again in November 2018. One morning, simply because the director of Merely Cats was coming into work, she noticed a cat mendacity in the course of the highway. A automobile had hit the cat, and the director wasn’t certain he was nonetheless alive.
However, she pulled over to assist, and the cat scurried underneath her automobile. The director introduced the cat into the shelter, the place the veterinary employees gave him instant, lifesaving care. Then, shelter employees moved the cat to a special clinic to get extra intensive care. They knew the severely injured cat – with a damaged left entrance leg, a damaged jaw, and proper eye popped out the socket – confronted a critical battle to outlive, however he was value it.
“So long as he was persevering with to combat and doing effectively, they had been prepared to present him an opportunity to combat,” says Jenn Hernandez, outreach and fundraising coordinator for Merely Cats.
“He positively put up fairly the combat,” Hernandez says in an interview with Cats.com. “It was fairly the journey getting him again to the state he’s in now.
Just a few months later, Crash was recovered from the accident. The shelter employees liked him a lot that they determined to maintain him because the resident mascot for Merely Cats.
Then, in 2023, shelter worker Maddie Corey noticed on social media that somebody in Boise had entered a canine within the Cadbury Bunny contest, which was open to animals apart from bunnies. These iconic commercials, historically with the clucking rabbit selling sweet Cadbury Easter eggs, are so cute!
Corey thought that Crash may win as a result of he had been educated to pose for the digicam and would give high-fives. Plus, the cat has such a pleasant and easygoing purrsonality, so Corey thought he would make a fantastic mascot. Corey submitted this tryout video.
And certain sufficient, in March 2023, Cadbury introduced Crash because the winner of the fifth annual Cadbury Bunny Tryouts! That 12 months was the Rescue Pets Version, and Crash’s competitors included a chinchilla, a duck, and a sheep. Crash starred in a industrial and plenty of YouTube advertisements, and he received a complete of $10,000 in money, break up into two $5,000 prizes, that went to Merely Cats.
Crash introduced plenty of consideration to Merely Cats, which hosted a meet-and-greet fundraising occasion the place individuals may meet Crash in his bunny ears and get his “Pawtograph.”
“We’re leaping with pleasure to listen to Crash is the subsequent Cadbury Bunny however not shocked, as he’s all the time the focal point in any room,” Corey mentioned within the Cadbury press launch. “He’s been by means of a lot over the previous few years and we recognize the love his associates, household, and cat lovers throughout the nation have proven.”
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Within the 2024 tryouts, a racoon named Louie succeeded Crash because the Cadbury Bunny from a pool of finalists that included a rabbit, three cats, a canine, a horse, and even a lizard. It seems there was no 2025 contest, for some purpose.
Two years after changing into the Cadbury Bunny, Crash lives an excellent life because the shelter mascot, who has his personal comfortable room the place he retires to at 5 p.m. and likes to roam across the appointment-only facility and love on the people there, Hernandez says. He likes to leap on individuals’s shoulders and wrap himself like a shawl across the neck. Crash additionally enjoys standing on his hind legs and giving high-fives.
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“He has a unusual, pleasant, actually outgoing character,” she says. “Everybody loves him and adores him. … He was simply such a fantastic match.”
Each morning, Crash – nicknamed Crashie-Poo – will get up vibrant and early in his room, which has a cat tower and window perch. He enjoys visiting with different cats on the shelter, which has wherever from about 40 to 80 felines at a given time. Crash, about 7 years outdated, may be very pleasant and laid again, and he approaches all employees members searching for affection.
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“We joke round that he’s our little CEO,” Hernandez says.
Crash nonetheless does occasional appearances at occasions together with his bunny ears, and the tabby will get numerous guests on the quarterly open home occasions at Merely Cats.
What a blessing Crash has been to the shelter! He has helped convey consideration to Merely Cats and the shelter’s mission, Hernandez says.
“He represents all we stand for: resilience and hope, serving to fantastic cats and kittens who want us,” she says. “He’s additionally a reminder to the neighborhood that each cat is value saving.”
Crash continues to boost funds for the shelter by means of t-shirts and different attire together with his picture on them. You possibly can order one right here.
