Submitted photo
Nelly is one of the rabbits rescued from the Hat streets by a Lethbridge rabbit resuce.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
A Lethbridge rabbit rescue organization is facing steep medical bills after taking in more than 50 rabbits from the Medicine Hat area.
Archie’s Angels Rabbit Rescue first heard late last year about a problem with domestic rabbits living on the streets of Medicine Hat. The organization made multiple trips to the Hat to take in bunnies and is now working on finding them all a home.
“We were first contacted by a woman who first noticed them at a park in Crescent Heights,” said executive director Bella Arcand. “The woman and her family did a lot of the work actually catching the rabbits, then a rescue in Medicine Hat held them until we could get down there and get them.”
The 54 rabbits are now looking for their forever homes.
“We’ve got the bunnies in foster homes and they’ll be there until we get them forever homes,” said Arcand. “This project has been a lot work but we’re happy to help these animals out.”
Arcand says once domestic rabbits are put into the wild, it’s hard to control them.
“People will release their rabbits and they just multiply,” she said. “Bunnies get pregnant every 28-30 days and can have up to 13 babies.
“Bunnies can start reproducing as early as three months, so a few bunnies in the wild can multiply really quickly.”
The rescue is now trying to find ways to make up for the $7,000 spent on the Medicine Hat bunnies.
“We’re getting caught up on spays and neuters,” she said. “All of them had to be treated for flees and a couple of them needed a leg amputated.
“Each of the amputations was around $2,000.”
Arcand says getting rabbits spayed and neutered is vital for having them as a pet.
“Not just for the reproducing, but rabbits are quite prone to getting cancer,” she said. “Bunnies are also really territorial and can become quite aggressive if they don’t get spayed our neutered.”
Arcand added that rabbits can be really tough pets in a number of ways, and to do research before adopting one.
The rabbit rescue has a Go Fund Me set up to help pay for its vet bills. Search for Archie’s Angels on http://www.gofundme.com to find it.
