Hare Raising Tale: Richmond Rescuers
Seek Homes for Wild Rabbits

RICHMOND -- Lars, a one-year-old little white cutie, was happily jumping back and forth, celebrating an impending significant moment of his life. This Saturday, he will be adopted and move into a new home. Abandoned as he was, Lars is one of the 1,500 fortunate rabbits that are rescued every year in the Bay Area. Many of them are found in the vicinity of San Pablo Avenue, and each has a unique story.

Take Star, for instance, a red-eyed white rabbit and a great dancer, who was being chased and attacked by a dog in a park along the avenue early last March. Before he was rescued, Star suffered a partially chewed off ear and now possesses an extremely shy personality.

"But it doesn't make him any less lovely," said Susan Stark, Shelter Director of the House Rabbit Society, a national nonprofit animal-welfare organization that rescues rabbits and arranges adoptions. "He wiggles his tail and dances when he knows he has your attention."

Founded two years ago, the House Rabbit Society is located here in Richmond in an inconspicuous redwood house on Broadway St., five blocks away from San Pablo Avenue. Inside, 35 rabbits currently reside, each of them at home in a rectangular crib with a crumpled paper bed, a water bottle and several baby toys to play with.

Adoptable bunnies are divided into four dormitories by their personalities. Henry and Sabine, for example, are a bonded pair of beautiful brown wooly angoras who enjoy being groomed; Susan, another white New Zealand, is very active and likes treats; Misty is a race car driver running very fast laps up and down the hall15 volunteers come from time to time, helping Stark to clean and feed the rabbits.

"Bunnies are very sensitive, easily depressed creatures," said Stark. "People dumped them because they can not grasp their language." Stark, a pet-lover who has three rabbits, two dogs and ten cats, enjoys talking to animals even more than to people. For 12 years, she was a mail carrier in Walnut Creek before joining the House Rabbit Society. During that time, Stark rescued more than 200 bunnies and found them foster homes. "They are everywhere, in the streets, parks or gutters," she said.

"Too many bunnies?" Stark shook her hands, wondering how many more are still rambling homeless. "We even dare not to put signs outside the office. We had bunnies dumped right at the door before." She said June and July are the busiest times for rescuing bunnies because "children like to have them on Easters and abandon them in several months after they get bored."

The House Rabbit Society, with 3,000 members around the country, has actively cooperated with 15 nearby animal shelters to house newly rescued bunnies. Stark explained many of those shelters have to euthanize bunnies because of space limits.

In order to prevent reproductions and cancers, all the incoming rabbits will be spayed and neutered before getting ready for adoptions.

Dr. Carolyn Harvey, a veterinarian with theVCA Bay Area Hospital in Oakland, said she performs 6 to 8 neuter or spay surgeries on rabbits every day including some clients from shelters and rabbit rescuing organizations.

Many people are calling every day looking for rabbits to adopt. "Okay, think twice before you make the decision," Stark usually replies. She is thrilled by their enthusiasm but also meticulous in choosing new families for her "babies."

She called the adoption a "life-long commitment" since rabbits can live as long as 15 years. In the adoption contract, foster parents are requested to keep bunnies inside at night and supervise any outdoor activity. Before the adoption, a counselor will schedule a home visit to make sure there is a bunny-proof environment.

"It's sad to see bunnies leaving, but my responsibility is to make sure they won't be abandoned again," said Stark, cuddling Millie, a white and brown spotted female.

In order to improve relationships with rabbits, bunny-sitters like Beth Kagel, 35, a 20-year veteran, volunteers to lecture adopters once a month. Kagel said most people do not pay as much attention to rabbits as to dogs and cats, "but indeed, bunnies need more care and protection."

Pet rescuing has received wide support in the Bay Area. Petco, one of the biggest pet accessories chain stores in the country, no longer sells small creatures including rabbits. "We encourage people to buy bunnies from shelters or other rescuing centers," said Carly Babbel, a small animal specialist at Petco's El Cerrito shop near San Pablo Avenue. "There are already too many!"

While Stark and her pals make copious strides to find ideal habitats for more and more wild bunnies, other shopowners have different ideas in mind when it comes to rabbit. Rabbit meat is currently selling for $4.99 per pound at Ranch 99, an Asian grocery shop behind San Pablo Avenue.