This is idiotic.
Firstly, those are clearly "monsters", though they have the appearance of a rabbit.
Secondly, if they really attack weaker animals/beings than them, then they are clearly pretty strong, since they go after an adult man (ofc his stats play a difference, but still).
Also, if it's a monster which can attack as a horde, then there's a potential for them to be very deadly. It's clear that by all those rules/logic of that world, those rabbits must have killed people before, let it be at least children or women.
If this story had any more realism, and the author would play by his own rules, then I bet no one would dare to laugh at that guy, if it was clear that he was just a total rookie with low stats, and in his very first battle, since clearly those rabbits can be very deadly...
Actually it would be more like an embarrassment for the guild, for there to be such dangerous monsters, with such quantities so close to the city's gate... (that is, if these npc's had a working set of brains)
Everything's relative(regarding what and when, is dangerous), and clearly these idiotic adventurers don't understand that (let alone the author them self).