Rephrasing:
When you feed rabbits a carrot, they will not try to breed with nearby rabbits that have also been fed until you remove any remaining carrots that are in your held-item slot. They prioritize following you for the carrot instead of breeding, so you have to lose their attention somehow (drop all the carrots, switch slots, move far enough away). This also applies to older minecraft versions, not just the 1.9 snapshot specified.
Note: When a pig is fed a carrot (and there is another pig nearby that is fed), it will immediately stop following you and move toward the other pig (even if you still have a stack of carrots in your held item slot). Rabbits do not do this.
This issue might be more accurately titled "Rabbits prioritize eating over breeding".
Rephrasing:
When you feed rabbits a carrot, they will not try to breed with nearby rabbits that have also been fed until you remove any remaining carrots that are in your held-item slot. They prioritize following you for the carrot instead of breeding, so you have to lose their attention somehow (drop all the carrots, switch slots, move far enough away). This also applies to older minecraft versions, not just the 1.9 snapshot specified.
Note: When a pig is fed a carrot (and there is another pig nearby that is fed), it will immediately stop following you and move toward the other pig (even if you still have a stack of carrots in your held item slot). Rabbits do not do this.
This issue might be more accurately titled "Rabbits prioritize eating over breeding".