Meet Wally, the Instagram-Famous Bunny With Fluffy Pigtails for Ears
— -- What is that?
That's the question Molly Prottas often gets when people first see Wally, her beloved 10-month-old Angora rabbit with big, fluffy ears being likened to wings and pigtails.
Wally is one of Instagram's most popular pets at the moment with almost 50,000 followers. Most of his photos and videos are taken from his home with Prottas in Natick, Massachusetts.
"He's a very unique, special rabbit with a great personality," Prottas told ABC News today. "There are a lot of adorable bunnies on Instagram, but none quite like him."
Prottas, 30, said she adopted Wally this past New Year's Eve, a few months after her last rabbit, a Flemmish Giant, passed away.
"My life had a big hole in it," Prottas said. "I actually considered getting a dog, but I've always been so drawn to rabbits."
Prottas began looking up different breeds of rabbits when she came across Angora rabbits, she said.
"I hadn't heard about them before, and the photos I was seeing were amazing," Prottas said. "They were these big, puffy clouds of wool and fur, and I read they had great personalities."
Prottas added Wally shows a much broader range of emotions than other rabbits she's encountered in the past.
"When I first brought him home, he'd turn his head away from me, so his back was towards me," she said. "He was making such a clear statement he didn't trust me yet, which is so typically Wally. He's very cautious and scared to new things at first, but once he's used to it, he just totally gets into it."
Wally's grown accustomed to his new home, where he can be seen leaping and flopping to and fro on his Instagram, Prottas added.
"He'll literally sometimes come up and smile at me with a smile that looks like he's saying, 'Hey, it's me Wally!'" Prottas said. "I can also lay down in bed and fall asleep snuggled with him."
And though most Angora rabbits have thick coats of fur that make them look like giant cotton balls, Prottas explained she had to trim Wally's fur down because he was very sensitive to grooming and being brushed.
"I don't touch his ears though," Prottas said. "I let those go. And he looked so adorable, soft and cuddly, so I just decided that that's going to be his look."
Wally got a page on Instagram with the help of some high school students she worked with as a social worker, Prottas said.
"I had never been on Instagram before January this year, and I literally didn't know what a hashtag was until a few months ago," Prottas laughed. "But the high schoolers I worked with helped me out so much. They taught me how to double tap, hashtag and comment. I joked to them I was going to get Wally famous, and now it seems like he actually is!"
