'Explosively Cute' Bunny With Ponytails is Internet Smash

If you don’t crack a smile while looking at this bunny, you might just be a crab. And you’re probably no fun at parties.

“The bunny with giant wings for ears.” “Explosively cute.” “Your ultimate summer hairspiration.”

It’s one of hundreds of comments blowing up Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and media outlets to describe Wally, the ridiculously cute bunny with his ears pulled into excessive ponytails.

Wally’s mom, Molly Prottas, didn’t even know how to use Instagram until she leaned on her Brookline High School students to help her out. She’s an intern at Brookline High School, and the students versed her in the ways of the photo app, supporting her through the “single-digit like days.”

Prottas, a 30-year-old Natick native and resident, recently got her Master’s in social work, and now knows the power of social media, as her English angora rabbit Wally has garnered attention from around the world. You see, Wally’s so adorable, you might feel compelled to squeeze him. And he also has some ears that are uniquely gorgeous.

Not only is he blowing up social media, but the Boston Globe recently wrote a feature on Wally and Prottas, as did The Daily Mail in the UK. The Huffington Post, too, featured the Instagram sensation and Wally’s melt-your-heart ponytailed ears. The Boston Globe reported that CNN has been in touch with Prottas about Wally, too, and she was also invited to the Good Morning America studios.

Prottas got Wally this past January at a farm in Maine after her rabbit passed away. Wally was one of two brothers left from the litter who hadn’t found homes yet.

“It’s funny,” said Prottas, “I remember when I first got him - and I’m a little ashamed to say this and I would never tell this to Wally - I was actually worried that his ears were a little small and maybe weren’t as abundant in wool as photos of Angoras I had seen. This, of course, would not have stopped me from bringing Wally home, but I did have that thought. If you go way back in my Instagram account, you will see how much his ears have blossomed over the months.”

Wally’s sudden fame is no less than shocking, Prottas admits. Calling it an “adventure,” she says, “I used to pretend with my coworkers and students that my life would not be complete until Wally was famous! (And then we would laugh about it.) It was a joke and I pretended to cry when I only got one or two new followers. There may have been a subconscious speckle of seriousness in that joke.”

The fame isn’t going to his head, as Wally is extremely shy in new situations. Prottas, however, says it’s moving in that direction, so when he gains more confidence, he’s going to be ecstatic about his fame and he’s “not going to be able contain himself.”

“He’s going to start declaring that he’s more famous than ‘real’ famous people,” jokes Prottas, “and we will have to talk about that together so he knows what’s appropriate.”

For now, Prottas says the Instagram is enough for Wally; she has no immediate plans to create a Twitter or Facebook page. Admittedly a little “behind the times,” she would welcome help if someone wanted to create pages for her.

“I went onto instagram for the very first time right before I got Wally in January,” she said. “I was looking at photos of Angora rabbits and remembered there was an app just for photos called instagram! I then came to the realization that people create pages just for their pets. Since all I posted on my personal facebook page were photos of my last rabbit, when Wally came along, a knew this was our destiny. For once, I was not alone in my love for bunnies and animals.”

Photo Credit: Molly Prottas

Visit Wally and Molly’s Instagram page for many more photos here.