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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Hopping into action
By Maggie Ybarra
Journal Staff Writer
A rescue gone awry has animal activists scrambling to ship more than 300 rabbits out of a woman's home.
A Rio Rancho resident had been caring for 40 rabbits, but after the animals dug out of their enclosures, overran the house and yard and bred, the number of rabbits increased this week to 330, said Margo DeMello, president of the House Rabbit Society.
DeMello said the society has stepped in to assist the woman with feeding, medicating and finding homes for the rabbits before Rio Rancho Animal Control seizes them.
"The reason we'd like to get the rabbits out before the city comes in and takes them is because no shelter — and certainly not the Rio Rancho shelter — is equipped to take 300 rabbits," DeMello said. "They're going to be euthanized."
John Francis, Rio Rancho police spokesman, said the woman, Nancy Haseman, was ticketed by police for restraint of animals and having more than five animals at her property on the 1900 block of Leonard Street. She is scheduled to appear in court for the citation on June 30, Francis said.
"(Haseman) supposedly ... got rid of 190 rabbits through different groups, and they're supposed to get rid of another 120 rabbits in the next couple of weeks, which is still going to leave them with an abundance of rabbits," Francis said.
DeMello said many of the rabbits are being taken to different states through Rabbitwise's Bunderground Railroad. The Bunderground Railroad is composed of a network of volunteers who shuttle rabbits back and forth across the country to provide them with better living conditions and new homes.
Jennifer Barbieri, rescue operations director for the railroad, said it takes many volunteers and a lot of coordination for the rabbits to safely and swiftly go through the Bunderground Railroad.
DeMello said she is concerned that not all of the rabbits will be taken before Haseman is scheduled to appear in court.
"No shelter can handle this number of rabbits, and we don't want staff of any shelter to be in a position to have to euthanize large numbers of animals," DeMello said. "It's not fair to them."
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