A rabbit curls up in a crate after rescue on New Year's Day. | Bebette’s Bunny Rescue
Published on January 8, 2025 at 11:19 am
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
The discovery on New Year’s Day was a happy one for 12 domesticated rabbits found running wild in the Theodore Roosevelt Area at Timucuan Preserve.
The rabbits were abandoned in the woods of the massive preserve in East Arlington just as winter’s cold was coming.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Now the rabbits are living in cages with warm blankets, food and water after volunteers from Bebette’s Bunny Rescue in Hilliard rescued them in the days after New Year’s.
The rescue group needs money to get them veterinary care and find homes with humans who won’t release them back into the cold, said Samantha Burns, founder of the nonprofit group.
“We are desperately in need of fosters to help house these bunnies since I do run a very small organization,” Burns said. “We normally have 15 to 20 bunnies maximum at all times. This was a very unexpected colony that we are trying to find placement for quickly, then we are getting them set up with our vet to spay and neuter and make sure every one is healthy and in quarantine.”
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Releasing domestic animals into the wild is a crime, according to the Rabbit.org Foundation, an independent nonprofit group that works to end the suffering, abuse and exploitation of all rabbits through education and advocacy. The group’s website said that abandoning a pet rabbit is also unethical, ecologically destructive and inhumane.
In Florida, it is a first-degree misdemeanor to abandon an animal in a public place or in a way that causes it to suffer injury or malnutrition. The penalty is a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment, or both.
A new Florida law that took effect in October requires local authorities to retrieve abandoned rabbits. If the owner cannot be found, the rabbit will be returned to the store where it was microchipped or to the breeder if the store is no longer in business.
If the breeder is also no longer in business, the rabbit will be placed in the care of an animal shelter or rabbit rescue.
How the rabbits were found
A hiker first spotted the rabbits now in the care of Bebette’s Bunny Rescue. The rescue group soon learned that six or more domestic rabbits had been seen at the preserve’s picnic area, sparking a rescue effort that saw a dozen safely caught.
Domestic rabbits are not equipped to survive in the wild as they face predators and starvation, Burns said. More rabbits are believed to be hiding in the preserve, possibly abandoned just after Christmas, she said.
“They were on the skinnier side, with some of them looking like they are closer to starvation and severely underweight,” she said. “There’s different things that can contribute to that to give it symptoms like parasites. But so far they are testing clean for parasites, which indicates it is from starvation. It could be days to weeks to months.”
No one knows where the rabbits came from. The large number means they were apparently not a “Christmas dump” done by people who got them as gifts, Burns said. She also doesn’t believe that someone breeding them for meat dumped them.
“It could be a breeder for pet purposes who maybe wasn’t able to sell them and just decided they would be better off to live in the wild, even though it is illegal to dump them,” she said.
The bunnies — a mix of colors that include gray with pink ears, as well as brown and black — have been named Rosie, Thea, Roosevelt, Eleanor, Caroline, Ivy, Fern, Juniper, Olive, Meadow, River and Wren.
Bebete’s is seeking $2,760 in donations to pay for their veterinary care and specialized diet as the group seeks temporary foster homes before they are adopted out to homes. Donations will be accepted at bebettesbunnyrescue.org/donate.
