A new group has been formed to deal with the problem of pet bunnies that have been abandoned outside in the Greater Sudbury area.
Founder Enara Iturregui said she was involved in rabbit rescue in Southern Ontario, where she was attending school, and recently moved back to her hometown of Sudbury.
Upon her return, she was looking for similar volunteer opportunities, but couldn’t find any. She also started receiving reports of domestic rabbits that had been dumped.
Not being able to find any local animal shelters that take in abandoned bunnies, Iturregui decided to start her own group, which she has initially called “Sudbury Bunny Snatchers.”
She also plans to incorporate the group as a formal non-profit rabbit rescue, which will be entitled the “Sudbury Bunny Rescue Room.”
When the group is able to secure a foster or permanent home for a rabbit, they secure the permission of property owners where the dumped bunnies have been living, and go out and catch the rabbits.
Given rabbits are notoriously agile and evasive, this can be difficult to do. The volunteers try to corner the bunnies, and employ a variety of tools, including animal x-pen cages, carriers and fishing nets.
“It's very hard, because just like cats and dogs that have been abandoned, they're in that fight or flight mode,” Iturregui said.
While people have been dumping pet bunnies outside, Iturregui said they aren’t any more equipped to fend for themselves than a pug or golden retriever - these are domesticated animals.
“They've lost a lot of their instincts and their survival skills,” she said.
The animals can also become a big nuisance for property owners, causing damage.
“Rabbits can reproduce very quickly,” she said. “If they take over, they’ll burrow in people’s lawns, under sheds. Eventually, that will cause a lot of issues and they'll have 70 or more rabbits running around one area.”
Iturregui said there’s a bunny dumping site off of The Kingsway where she has counted 15 rabbits. She’s also aware of another on Falconbridge Road, near Garson, as well as others in Capreol and Dowling.
So far, Iturregui and her volunteers have rescued five bunnies, not including the large litter of rabbit kits that was born to one of these rabbits. Of the 11 kits in that litter, nine have survived, and will be ready for new homes in about seven weeks.
In order to continue rescuing rabbits, the group needs more foster homes as well as permanent homes for the animals.
“We're not an established rescue,” she said. “We need foster homes. We like to line up foster homes before we catch (rabbits). Otherwise we just have nowhere to keep them.”
Iturregui has also set up a GoFundMe account to help with the care of rabbits that have been rescued, including veterinary care.
If you’d like to offer a foster home for a rescued rabbit or are interested in volunteering with the group, contact Iturregui through the group’s Facebook page.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s associate content editor.
