San Clemente Shelter to Build New Habitat for Unwanted Rabbits : Hare Care

After being awarded a $10,000 grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the San Clemente Animal Shelter has made plans to create a rabbit habitat, just in time for the booming number of bunnies that are expected to crowd the shelter after the Easter season.

Cuddly, furry and fluffy, bunnies are often a favorite gift for children during the holidays. But four to five months later, when the creatures turn into teens and don’t seem so much fun anymore, the rabbits are often abandoned.

“Around Easter, people can’t help but get baby chicks and baby rabbits, and then abandon them,” said Beth Caskie, project manager for the ASPCA’s western regional office. “Shelters are always bearing the brunt of it after the holiday.”

The San Clemente shelter currently has six cages to house abandoned hares.

Shelter assistant manager Cindi Kane said they were in desperate need of more cages and foster homes to meet the growing demand. Last year after Easter, the shelter was bursting with more than 15 bunnies. With the ASPCA grant, the space problem is solved.

“It was such a blessing,” Kane said of the grant.

With the money, the shelter plans to build a state-of-the-art, 10-by-20-foot tiled, climate-controlled “rabbitat.” Construction is scheduled to begin in May.

The concrete building will be attached to the kennels and be able to house from 14 to 20 rabbits at any given time, said Jim Waples, president of Friends of San Clemente Animals. The nonprofit volunteer group worked with the nonprofit Animal Rescue Foundation in Dana Point to secure the grant.

“We’re just absolutely thrilled,” Waples said. “It’s going to be a good environment for the rabbits.”

The San Clemente shelter was the first facility in ASPCA’s western region selected to receive funds and participate in the group’s new shelter partnership program. Officials of the ASPCA told shelter officials and the San Clemente group they had won the grant last fall.

“We’re just very impressed with the way they thought ahead and the way they’re developing their shelter,” Caskie said. “They’re very progressive. They want the best for their animals.”

Along with the $10,000, the ASPCA has also given shelter $5,000 worth of educational materials to teach parents and children how to properly pet a puppy or how to teach a rabbit how to use a litter box.

The shelter plans to use some of those materials to work with the Capistrano Unified School District to implement an educational program to teach children about animals and their care.

Part of that education process, said shelter officials, will be to inform parents and children about the responsibility of buying bunnies at Easter time.

Tempting commercials, advertisements and window displays often hide the fact that owning a rabbit, which can live to be 12 to 15 years old, is a serious commitment.

“A lot of pet shops promote rabbits as the perfect first pet,” said Laura Jodar of the nonprofit House Rabbit Society. “Nothing can be further from the truth. . . . They really aren’t good animals for little kids.”

Jodar said since the House Rabbit Society started in Orange County eight years ago, the group has placed from 300 to 400 rabbits in foster and permanent homes. But that figure does not even come close to the number of bunnies that are released into the wild and left to die.

“People dump their rabbits in parks, restaurants and schools,” Jodar said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of rabbits that are abandoned. It’s just incredible.”

For questions or educational material, call the House Rabbit Society at (714) 254-8685 or contact the San Clemente Animal Shelter at (714) 492-1617.