The delightful four-year-old and way-too-large rabbit Alex who served as the “therapy bunny” for the SF Giants and at SFO airport has reportedly died, after complications from having a cancerous tumor removed.

A very chonky, 28-pound Flemish Giant rabbit named Alex the Great burst onto the SF scene in 2022 as one of the newest therapy animals at SF International Airport. The comically oversize rabbit became a huge cult-hero hit, and was soon doing duty at Giants game appearances, cementing Alex as the single most coveted cuddle in all of San Francisco.


But apparently for at least the last three months, the joy that Alex brought others was concealing the fact that he’d developed a cancerous tumor. And on Monday, Alex the rabbit’s official social media channels announced that he passed away earlier in the morning. He was four years old.


“Unfortunately Alex has crossed the rainbow 🌈 this morning at 7:50am PST,” Alex’s official account said. “This is the hardest news. The pain is unbearable. We will have more information later just know he had complications from the cancer treatments that took his life.”

This seems verified by a response from the official SFO Twitter account.


Alex’s health trouble had apparently been brewing since mid-May. "Today Alex had emergency surgery to remove a cancer tumor,” his account said on May 23. “It was successful and Dr Rockwell did an amazing job. We caught the lump over the weekend and SoMa Animal Hospital took him in on Monday and by today they were able to remove it.”

Alex was “Medically cleared to return to action” at Giants games on June 3, and was back at Oracle Park on June 4. But that bunny was not out of the woods.


On July 18, his account posted that “Alex went in for cancer treatments but had a complication. He’s now in critical condition in ICU at UC Davis. Please pray or send positive thoughts tonight—he’s fighting hard.”


And it seemed the end was near when his account posted Sunday night, “Friends, sorry for the late update. As of 6pm, Alex was moved from ICU to a more critical care room, but he's improving—eating and breathing more on his own. He has a few more days at @ucdavis, but he's a fighter. Thanks for your prayers and positivity—means the world.”

Just as Alex has meant the world to may San Franciscans, and will be remembered fondly.

Related: A Massive Therapy Rabbit Was the Real MVP at Last Night's San Francisco Giants Game [SFist]

Image: @rainbraintrivia via Twitter