NEWS ARTICLES

Rabbit rescue

By Nick Green
THE DAILY BREEZE ( April 19, 2002)

Dr. Karen Halligan, left, a veterinarian, checks the heartbeat of a rabbit taken from a Mar Vista house Thursday. About 350 were found. Below, officals of a humane group load rabbits into a van. Brad Graverson/ Daily Breeze

Rescuers check the health of the hundreds of rabbits taken Thursday from a Mar Vistqa house. The rabbits were without food and water, and some had died.

MAR VISTA: Approximately 350 animals are removed from a home's garage. Several were dead. None had food or water.

About 350 rabbits were seized from a Mar Vista home Thursday by officials of a Los Angeles humane group assisted by eight members of Torrance's nonprofit PetSave Foundation wearing thick gloves and gray sweat shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Friends for Life."

There's feces everywhere, bugs everywhere, rabbits, bunnies-everywhere," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles. "You have to watch where you step because some are so teeny .... There's stagnant pools, there's rodents in the trees."

About 30 volunteers, veterinarians and SPCALA employees set up a triage on the driveway of the one-story Stoner Avenue home to photograph, assess the condition and treat the rabbits for a variety of ailments and injuries.

So many rabbits were discovered in cages in the home's filthy garage and in backyard burrows that officials had a hard time keeping track of how many there were before being carted away to an empty SPCALA facility where they will be held as evidence.

Several were found dead, and all were without food or water in conditions that Bona Tucker, who heads the PetSave Foundation, described as "shocking."

Some of the usually docile animals were suffering from bite wounds as the rabbits fought in the overcrowded conditions.

"We gave them water and they mobbed the bowls," Tucker said. "We ran out of carriers, there was a mountain of them and we ran out. They literally had to stop catching (rabbits at one point) because they ran out of carriers."

The owner, whom officials declined to identify but who is believed to be an executive with a Los Angeles-area advertising agency, could face animal cruelty and neglect charges. The woman was home when SPCALA officers presented their search warrant early in the morning, but left for work, officials said.

Neighbors said they had no idea the woman had that many rabbits.

"No wonder the smell," said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. "I know she had a couple of rabbits."

Neighbor Liz Rubinstein said .the neighborhood had been plagued by rats up to a foot long for the past year, but that city officials had largely ignored her pleas for help.

"It's really nasty," she said. "We've set traps. We've had the exterminator out .... When we sit down to dinner we see them running along the backyard fence."

Bornstein described the woman as a classic "collector."

People who have, these large collections start out with the best of intentions and are overrun," she said. "Some people collect newspapers, some people collect things, some people collect rabbits."

While Bernstein said that while this was the most rabbits SPCALA had rescued during her eight years with the organization, such menageries are not uncommon. Several year; ago SPCALA officers seized 2,000 turtles from a house, she said.

Bernstein estimated that SPCALA, which has an annual budget of $4.5 million, could face bills of $500 a week to look after the rabbits, although that could rise depending on veterinary bills.

Tucker, who has about 70 rabbits she has rescued, wondered what will become of those confiscated Thursday.

"They're breeding like rabbits," she said. "It may well take a long time to find good homes for so many."

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