::::All this talk of political correctness and  being dispassionate aside, the male pronoun is preferred over "it" when speaking of living creatures as opposed to inanimate objects.  Perhaps this is not universally accepted, but nothing is.  It is, however, overwhelmingly accepted as a feature of the English language.  Rabbits aren't "its," they are Hes and shes.  The standard English pronoun usage rules must prevail in this as in all other English language wikipedia entries.  Gender neutral pronouns removed.