EVICTED : Abandoned Pets Are Rousted From Longtime Home

About 2,000 unwanted pet rabbits, chickens and ducks abandoned in a flood control basin at Marina del Rey over the last decade are being evicted from their unofficial animal refuge.

The Los Angeles County Small Craft Harbor Commission voted this week to remove the domestic birds and animals from the Oxford Flood Control Basin and allow only wild migrating birds to remain in the 10 1/2-acre area of shallow runoff water, mud and scattered vegetation.

Department of Animal Care and Control officials said they soon will begin a search for new homes for the birds and animals, which began accumulating in the basin about 10 years ago when people decided that it was a good place to dump baby chicks, ducklings and bunnies that had been given to children for Christmas or Easter, but were no longer wanted.

The animals--particularly the rabbits--quickly multiplied, and volunteers started feeding and caring for them in 1982, providing more than 300 pounds of food a day. Last summer, the group also began trying to keep the population down by moving some of them and organizing a neutering program for the rabbits.

But some human neighbors of the basin have complained for years of roosters crowing in the early morning, offensive odors and the inappropriateness of caring for birds and animals near a residential area. And officials said the animals’ droppings contributed to pollution that forced the closure last year of “Mothers’ Beach,” the only swimming beach in Marina del Rey.

‘Not Appropriate’

The five-member Small Craft Harbor Commission, which oversees operation of the marina, agreed unanimously that the basin is “not appropriate” for care of domestic animals.

“My conclusion is based on the environmental concerns that have been raised, particularly the effect on marina water quality, surrounding residents, competition with wildfowl and the risk of interference with the primary function of flood control,” said Commissioner Mark Nathanson, who conducted a hearing and then wrote a report on the issue.

No one knows for sure how many animals are in the basin, but Bruce Richards, assistant director of the county Department of Animal Care and Control, estimates that there are up to 1,300 rabbits and a total of about 700 chickens and ducks. There may have been as many as 2,500 rabbits and 1,200 chickens and ducks before some of them were moved to Los Angeles parks last summer, he said.

The vote to move the animals from the area, located at the northern end of the marina between Washington Street and Admiralty Way, drew protests from Marina Sanctuary Inc., the nonprofit group of volunteers who care for the animals.

“This is really an extension of the homeless problem,” said member Leigh Platte. “The animals are victims, and worse, they can’t even ask for help. The least we can do is be compassionate.”

Another volunteer, Susan Hartley, told the commission that not everybody who lives nearby dislikes the menagerie, and handed over a petition with 100 signatures of residents who favor allowing the animals to stay.

“I’m saddened to hear what my neighbors have said,” Hartley said, calling the sanctuary “a jewel in the neighborhood.”

Platte said the group may petition the Board of Supervisors to save the refuge.

No Need for Vote

But Eric Bourdon, assistant director of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors, said the domestic birds and animals are illegally in the basin--which gathers water from several channels before it flows into the ocean--and therefore the supervisors do not need to vote on the commission’s decision to remove them.

No timetable has yet been established, but Richards said it would take several months to humanely relocate the animals to parks throughout the county. People may be asked to adopt some of the animals, he said.

The Department of Beaches and Harbors has called a meeting for next week with animal control officials and the neighborhood volunteers to work out a starting date and other details of the eviction.

“We want to try to make it a pleasant end to a program,” Richards said.