LOS ANGELES — Following the rescue of up to 100 rabbits from a home in Granada Hills, a rescue foundation is urging residents to help foster or adopt the animals.
Bunny World Foundation, an all-volunteer foster-based animal rescue that finds homes for hundreds of abandoned domestic rabbits each year, said they are struggling to single-handedly assist the L.A. Animal Services Department with re-homing the animals.
Lejla Hadzimuratovic, founder and president of BWF, called the situation a “nightmare.”
“I am extremely distraught having to witness yet another horrible backyard catastrophe,” Hadzimuratovic said in a statement. “This was your typical situation where things got out of hand due to ignorance of rabbits’ gestation period, which is 28 days.”
Hadzimuratovic added, “When will people learn that it only takes two unfixed rabbits to create a tragedy of mass proportions and impose a hefty financial burden on Los Angeles rescue organizations operating on a zero budget? It’s heartbreaking to see many painfully neglected and severely matted rabbits living in filth, exposed to hawks, owls, coyotes, raccoons, other wildlife, and harsh elements.”
On Feb. 20, an LAAS supervisor from the West Valley Animal Shelter in Chatsworth contacted BWF seeking assistance rescuing a large number of rabbits found on a private property in Granada Hills. The owner had called for assistance after the fast-breeding rabbits began to proliferate in his back yard.
Four days later, the BWF team visited the scene and reported babies, nursing mothers, juveniles and adult rabbits running across several yards.
“Once we arrived at the scene, we worked diligently to trap and sex as many rabbits as possible. The bunnies we encountered were mainly adults, with many pregnant and potentially nursing females,” said BWF adoption manager Jane Stonnington.
The organization trapped and sexed 50 rabbits that day and took them to the West Valley Animal Shelter. Most of…
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