Bunnies gone wild!

[Becknutt]

LOCAL NEWS

[size=+1]BUNNIES GONE WILD: Neighborhood in Cedarville overrun with rabbits (video in story)[/size]

Liz Orenstein holds a domestic rabbit rescued from the outdoors in Plymouth this spring. Orenstein works with the Home Rabbit Network and provides a foster home for four rabbits as they await adoption. (AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger)
By BRIAN BENSON
The Patriot Ledger

PLYMOUTH - Lee Raiche was surprised to see a rabbit in his Cedarville neighborhood and even more shocked when the rabbits kept coming - more than 30 in all.

‘‘All of a sudden they appeared and they were eating everything in sight, to the point where we can’t plant annual flowers,’’ Raiche said. ‘‘They’re cute little things, but a nuisance.’’

In March, Raiche and his neighbors in Long Pond Village, an over-55 community, called the House Rabbit Network for help. The network, a volunteer, nonprofit organization, captures stray rabbits throughout the state and finds safe homes for them.

‘‘The first time we went down there, we didn’t even drive a block before we saw a rabbit,’’ said Liz Orenstein, a Quincy resident who has been a House Rabbit Network volunteer for three years.

The population may have come from a breeder’s rabbits that were released or escaped into the wild, Orenstein said.

The network has found 28 rabbits in the vicinity of Long Pond Village, making it the largest capture in the organization’s 10-year history. Orenstein and other volunteers will be traveling to Plymouth this weekend because neighborhood residents reported seeing five more rabbits in the area.

The rabbits were lucky to find a relatively safe, quiet neighborhood with lots of woodland, a pond and few cats, dogs or other predators, she said.

‘‘It’s very, very rare to end up with a place where domesticated rabbits can survive,’’ Orenstein said.

Rabbits, which live six to 10 years, make great pets but require care and attention, she said.

‘‘They’re smart, clever, curious and social,’’ Orenstein said. ‘‘They get upset if they don’t have time with their family.’’

Orenstein is pleased that the network has found new homes for two-thirds of the rabbits captured in Plymouth.

‘‘I hate to see these guys sit waiting for an adoption,’’ she said.

To report a domesticated rabbit sighting or for more information about the House Rabbit Network, call 781-431-1211.

Brian Benson may be reached at [email protected] .

Video:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFdYidHz35c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFdYidHz35c[/ame]



Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger

 

[JadeIcing]

This by the way is insane.

They caught one this weekend. They saw the other 4. :grumpy:

 

[JadeIcing]

We caught two Plymouth buns tonight.

It was great- there was a reporter there from the Patriot Ledger.
We set up a trap between two houses, explained how we were
going to try to get the buns there, and then close off the area to
catch them. We weren't even set up ten minutes when the two
white buns came out of the woods. They ran across the back of
the houses, right into our trap! We couldn't have scripted it
any better.

We did sight the black bun again, but he quickly ran back into
the woods. We waited another 90 minutes but no more bun
sightings.

Huge thanks to Derrick, Adrean, Teresa, Linda, Katie, Nicole
and Shannon for their hard work tonight. It was awesome!

Hopefully we will be in the paper tomorrow.

Suzanne

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Aww that's such a gorgeous bunny she has!

Why do people do stuff like this? It breaks my heart!

Of course, personally, I would love to walk out and find 30 rabbits making a home in my back yard! LOL!

Ok, not the domestic kind - I know.

 

[pla725]

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2008/01/07/news/news08.txt

 

[Becknutt]

[size=+1]Rabbit roundup nets two bunnies: Volunteers rescue a pair of domestic hares that had been left in the wild[/size]

Suzanne Trayhan carries one of the two rabbits rescued Sunday. (ADVA SALDINGER/For The Patriot Ledger)
By ADVA SALDINGER
For The Patriot Ledger

PLYMOUTH - Two white rabbits scampered out of the woods bordering Long Pond Village in Plymouth and hopped away from the glow of flashlights - straight into the pen that volunteers from the House Rabbit Network had set up.

Suzanne Trayhan and another volunteer each cornered one of them, and the rabbits were quickly placed in carrying cases Sunday night.

The rabbits were part of a group that was spotted in the neighborhood on Dec. 26. Two rabbits were caught the following weekend.

This weekend, four were seen on Saturday night, but Sunday’s rescue effort yielded only two.

‘‘It never works like that,’’ said Trayhan, surprised at how easily the two rabbits were caught.

Trayhan, president of the House Rabbit Network, has captured rabbits in the Plymouth neighborhood several times since last spring, when residents of the 55-and-older Long Pond Village community first reported seeing rabbits and complaining about destroyed gardens.

‘‘I have a passion for rabbits,’’ Trayhan said. ‘‘I care about them and feel bad that they’re helpless.’’

Domestic rabbits aren’t suited for life in the woods: they don’t have camouflage coloring or important burrowing skills, she said.

Trayhan will take the rabbits home, give them a medical check, get them healthy, have them spayed or neutered and then try to find them ‘‘good indoor homes.’’

The House Rabbit Network and another organization have caught more than 30 rabbits in the area since March.

Trayhan believes someone is illegally releasing litters every few months when they can no longer handle a large number of rabbits.

‘‘It’s tough because they (the rabbits) don’t have the instincts to live outside,’’ she said.

The rabbits caught Sunday will join others rescued by Trayhan’s organization at one of approximately 10 foster homes where the rabbits await adoption.

Long Pond Village residents watched from their windows and stepped out on their porches to check in with the group, reporting the rabbits they had seen and asking how many had been caught.

After the early success, the group sat and waited, whispering the hope that the rabbits would come out before they had to put away the metal fencing they had set up and head home.

Teresa Ostendarp of Marshfield was one of the volunteers. She was out for the second night in a row after responding to an e-mail seeking volunteers. - She said the experience was fun and informative.

Trayhan said releasing rabbits into the wild is illegal.

‘‘I feel great we caught two at least,’’ she said.

She said she still worries about the remaining rabbits.

How to help — For more information about the House Rabbit Network and how to adopt a rescued animal, visit

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org, or call 781-431-1211.

Copyright 2008 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, January 07, 2008

 

[Becknutt]

How nice that you could be involved!! I love big white bunnies, they have no hope of surviving in the wild. No camoflauge what so ever. The black bunny has hope of blending into his surroundings.

Good luck with the remainder of them!

 

[LadyBug]

 

[JadeIcing]

:biggrin2: