CYPRESS : City, Group Help to Care for Rabbits

The small typewritten sign carries a big warning. Get caught dumping rabbits and you are breaking the law. The penalty? A fine up to $1,000 or, even worse, a year in jail.

This not-so-kind-and-gentle tactic is the latest in a long line of efforts to protect Cypress’ famous residents: the Nature Park rabbits. Since taking over care of the abandoned bunnies more than a month ago, the Kinship With All Life Foundation has launched a strict campaign to help the floppy-eared, pink-nosed creatures.

“A lot of times when I come out with a sick rabbit and people see it, they realize how serious it is,” said Jean Sleeper, a biologist who devotes 30 hours a week to tending to the rabbits. “But it is going to take a long time” to educate people about the cruelty of dumping unwanted pets, she said.

Along with the penalties, a massive birth-control effort has begun to keep the population manageable. More than 60 male and female rabbits have been neutered and the remaining 20 or so have appointments pending. That is, if they can be caught. “Those are the tough ones,” Sleeper said.

On average, 12 rabbits are neutered each week. They are transported to the office of veterinarian John Hardison, who performs the operation at a discounted price of $15. After the surgery, they are then returned to the foundation headquarters until the anesthesia wears off.

Other rabbits have been treated for a variety of ailments ranging from a bunnylike pneumonia to abscessed wounds. Twelve have been euthanized.

“The problem with the park is that it has rabbits who have been left by not very responsible pet owners,” said Hardison.

Without a doubt, there hasn’t been such a commotion in Cypress since owners of the Los Alamitos Race Course revealed plans about developing a certain golf course.

Updates on the rabbits’ condition are becoming a regular item on the City Council’s agenda. Bags of rabbit feed frequently appear out of nowhere. And then there is the long line of admirers. Even City Manager Darrell Essex admits to taking his grandchildren to the park to see the bunnies.

How many have flocked to the park on Ball Road? “I am sure there have been thousands,” Essex said. “It has been so popular.”

But it is not the first time residents have come to the rescue of animals. In the late 1970s, a campaign was waged to save a petting zoo facing foreclosure. However, in that case, the handful of reindeer, peacocks and birds eventually lost out and were turned over to the county.

The city estimates it has spent $9,385 taking care of the rabbits, mostly for wages of city employees. An additional $240 was given by the city this week to the foundation, which says it has spent more than $1,000 of its own funds.

However, with Easter right around the corner it may not be long before many rabbits are adopted. Eight have already found new homes after people learned about the bunnies’ plight from newspaper stories.

The foundation carefully screens all applicants. Families from as far away as Long Beach and Garden Grove have inquired about becoming rabbit owners. So far only one bunny owner has been dissatisfied and brought his rabbit back.

“We try to match the bunnies with the needs and desires of the home,” Sleeper said. “I try to get to know the rabbits before they go.”