COOPER CITY, Fla. – Rabbits are over-running one Broward County neighborhood, but these are no wild hares.
They’re actually pets being dumped in one particular area that has become known as a bunny haven for these unwanted pets.
“See all the bite wounds all over his ears, being bullied by the ones that are actually here? She said someone came, threw him out of the car and drove away,” one woman said.
The bunny borough is taking over the suburbs of Cooper City.
“Over the years, the population has grown. Fortunately our neighborhood is wonderful, everybody feeds them, we give them water. You know, we do the best we can,” Maria Cormany, who lives nearby, said.
“Everyone cares for the bunnies,” another neighbor, Rachel Alvarez, added.
The neighbors leave water and fresh vegetables out for the bunnies.
“She’s been around, I would say, for at least five years,” Cormany said of one bunny.
The rabbit colony lives at the Flamingo Gardens neighborhood among houses, humans, ducks and even dogs.
These bunnies are everywhere in this neighborhood.
And since it’s just after Easter, people out there might have invested in a pet that they weren’t really prepared for
But these are domestics dumped there, left to fend for themselves, and the bottom line is they’re pets, not wild animals.
“A lot of them are quite sick because they’re not meant to be outside,” said Dylan Warfel, with Penny & Wild Small Animal Rescue.
Warfel comes out continuously, rescuing rabbits and saving bunnies.
“You have bite wounds, you’re matted, that’s a massive flea, covered in fleas,” he said about the bunnies.
But considering these munchkins make babies every 30 days, it is a never-ending operation.
“Right now, we’re looking for foster homes,” Warfel said. “We are a 100 percent foster-based rescue, so we don’t have a shelter facility to put them in, but each person that steps up to foster, we’re able to pick up another here, get them into safety, get them fixed and adopted out.”
Most South Florida shelters and humane societies do not accept rabbits for rehoming, so if you would like to help by being a foster family, adopting a bunny or donating to the rescue cause, you can find out more information by visiting the Penny & Wild Small Animal Rescue website.