RUNAWAY rabbit Vanilla happily munches hay in her hutch blissfully unaware that she is responsible for her owner throwing himself into a daunting challenge last weekend.

Analyst David Allen was so grateful to have the wandering bunny back at his Peebles home that he pledged to help out the animal welfare charity that returned her.

And on Sunday he was aiming to raise more than £1,000 for the Scottish SPCA by running in the London Marathon.

The road to London began last year when Vanilla and her hutchmate Fudge chewed their way to freedom, then burrowed through grass.

“We got home to find Fudge roaming the garden but there was no sign of Vanilla. We searched late into the night but couldn’t find her, so the next morning we contacted local vets and animal charities and later discovered the Scottish SPCA had her in their care,” said David.

“It turned out a local resident had found Vanilla in their garden and, knowing she was a pet, phoned the Scottish SPCA. The charity took Vanilla to their Balerno centre where we collected her that afternoon.

“Without the Scottish SPCA we might never have got her back. It made me realise that they do much more than rescue animals in need, they are there for every animal.

“For this reason I decided I wanted to do something to raise money for the charity. I can’t claim running a marathon is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do, although I’m sure it will be a great experience.” David, 36. trained in the gym twice a week doing strength and fitness work and wmet for long distance runs.

He has enlisted the help of a trainer Mike Heatlie, who formerly trained Gwen Stefani, in his bid to conquer the gruelling 26.2 mile course.

David is confident of beating his £1,000 target and organised a unique post-race party to secure donations.

Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn, of the SPCA, said: “We have a huge amount of respect for anyone who sets themselves the goal of training for and running a marathon, it’s a massive achievement.

“By taking part in fundraising events like this, our supporters are helping us care for more unwanted, abandoned and neglected animals.

“We don’t receive any government or lottery funding which means we rely on the public to be able to continue our work rescuing and rehoming animals in desperate need of our help.

“Anyone who takes a Scottish SPCA charity place at the London Marathon will be helping save lives.” If you would like to help David reach his target you can donate via his Just Giving page by visiting www.justgiving.com/david-allen26.