• The Daily Breeze (April 19, 2002)
• The Los Angeles Times (April 19, 2002)
• The Daily Breeze (August 18, 2002)
• Quad City Times (Septemer 23, 2002)
• The Daily Breeze (April 19, 2003)

Rabbit rescue

By Nick Green
THE DAILY BREEZE ( April 19, 2002)

About 350 rabbits were seized from a Mar Vista home Thursday by officials of a Los Angeles humane group assisted by eight members of Torrance's nonprofit PetSave Foundation wearing thick gloves and gray sweat shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Friends for Life."

There's feces everywhere, bugs everywhere, rabbits, bunnies-everywhere," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles. "You have to watch where you step because some are so teeny .... There's stagnant pools, there's rodents in the trees."

About 30 volunteers, veterinarians and SPCALA employees set up a triage on the driveway of the one-story Stoner Avenue home to photograph, assess the condition and treat the rabbits for a variety of ailments and injuries.

So many rabbits were discovered in cages in the home's filthy garage and in backyard burrows that officials had a hard time keeping track of how many there were before being carted away to an empty SPCALA facility where they will be held as evidence.

Several were found dead, and all were without food or water in conditions that Bona Tucker, who heads the PetSave Foundation, described as "shocking."

Some of the usually docile animals were suffering from bite wounds as the rabbits fought in the overcrowded conditions.

"We gave them water and they mobbed the bowls," Tucker said. "We ran out of carriers, there was a mountain of them and we ran out. They literally had to stop catching (rabbits at one point) because they ran out of carriers."

The owner, whom officials declined to identify but who is believed to be an executive with a Los Angeles-area advertising agency, could face animal cruelty and neglect charges. The woman was home when SPCALA officers presented their search warrant early in the morning, but left for work, officials said.

Neighbors said they had no idea the woman had that many rabbits.

"No wonder the smell," said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. "I know she had a couple of rabbits."

Neighbor Liz Rubinstein said .the neighborhood had been plagued by rats up to a foot long for the past year, but that city officials had largely ignored her pleas for help.

"It's really nasty," she said. "We've set traps. We've had the exterminator out .... When we sit down to dinner we see them running along the backyard fence."

Bornstein described the woman as a classic "collector."

People who have, these large collections start out with the best of intentions and are overrun," she said. "Some people collect newspapers, some people collect things, some people collect rabbits."

While Bernstein said that while this was the most rabbits SPCALA had rescued during her eight years with the organization, such menageries are not uncommon. Several year; ago SPCALA officers seized 2,000 turtles from a house, she said.

Bernstein estimated that SPCALA, which has an annual budget of $4.5 million, could face bills of $500 a week to look after the rabbits, although that could rise depending on veterinary bills.

Tucker, who has about 70 rabbits she has rescued, wondered what will become of those confiscated Thursday.

"They're breeding like rabbits," she said. "It may well take a long time to find good homes for so many."

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250 Rabbits Seized in Cruelty Case

Regulation: Raid of the Mar Vista home finds many of the animals hurt and some dead.

By KENNETH REICH
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer(April 19, 2002)

A large strike force of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, carrying a search warrant, raided a rented home Thursday in Mar Vista and removed more than 250 rabbits, many of them injured and some dead.

Madeline Bernstein, president of the SPCA's Los Angeles chapter, said it appeared that the woman who lived there had begun "a collection of rabbits and then allowed the animals to multiply without control."

Neighbors had complained of a stench.

At least eight SPCA trucks and more than 20 people were involved in the raid in the neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles.

Rabbits still alive were trucked either to a veterinarian's office or a shelter. Bernstein said some would be offered for adoption.

When SPCA workers arrived at the house in the 3000 block of Stoner Avenue and showed the resident the search warrant; she left the property, Bernstein said. She was not arrested.

"A huge number of rabbits [were] found in the backyard and along the sides of the house," Bernstein said.

The name of the resident was not released, but neighbors said she had rented the home for a year and a half.

Lazarus Benjamin, a next-door neighbor, said he had noticed bad smells for some time.

But the number of rabbits discovered "was a shock," he added.

Bernstein said Los Angeles ordinances regulating the sheltering of rabbits are less clear than for dogs and cats but that rabbits must be kept in healthful, clean surroundings.

"This person may have meant well," Bernstein said, "but things got beyond her."

"Copyright, 2002, Los Angeles Times.  Reprinted by permission."

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RESCUE: Nonbreeding rabbits such as Smoke, Eight-ball, Athena and Rex Harrison await Adoption.

By Nick Green
The Daily Breeze (Sunday, August 18, 2002)

Brad Graverson/Daily Breeze

Bona Tucker, head of Torrance-based PenSave Foundation, tends to a bunny housed with about 300 others after their rescue from a Mar Vista home. We're trying to encourage people to take in a group," Tucker said.

Want a bunny or two or three – or 400?

Give or take a rabbit, that's how many of the furry, cuddly critters the Torrance-based PetSave Foundation is seeking to place in good homes.

The nonprofit group ended up with the bunch of bunnies after the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles raided a Mar Vista home in April where the animals were living in squalor.

Many were diseased or injured as the high rabbit density prompted fights to break out among the usually docile creatures or attracted rats that attacked and fed on them. At least 100 were too sick or injured and had to be destroyed.

Criminal charges are expected to be filed against the home's occupant, an eccentric woman who added to her surreal collection incessantly despite the horrendous conditions.

But meantime the foundation must find new homes for the rabbits, which now have largely been neutered or spayed and nursed back to health.

"You hear 400 and it just doesn't sink in until you see individuals in every cubbyhole," said volunteer Bob Tucker, as he stood in a formerly empty SPCA dog shelter the group is leasing near Culver City, the soothing strains of classical music wafting through the 5,400-square-foot building.

There are about 320 rabbits at the shelter and another 80 elsewhere. About 160 of them were born at the facility, since they kept reproducing in the weeks after they were confiscated.

"When we first brought the babies here," Tucker said, "you waded through them."

Indeed, the place is filled to the brim with bouncing bunnies.

There are white rabbits and black rabbits, gray rabbits and brown rabbits. Rabbits sit in cages, rabbits sprint through large pens and rabbits cuddle up to one another in the gender-segregated enclosures.

"Reactions (from people) range from devastated at how many we have to find homes for to being delighted to have so much choice of every shape and color," said Bona Tucker, the group's president.

Just how long it may take to find homes for Bona's bunnies, no one is sure. It may take awhile though. In the past month only about a dozen have been adopted, while another dozen are pending.

Slowly but surely, the 20 volunteers who staff the shelter are giving names to their charges as they learn about the distinct personalities and characteristics of each.

There's Smoke, a salt-and-pepper gray rabbit. There's Eight-ball, so named for its distinctive white nose. There's Athena, a gray and white rabbit with torn ears. And there's Rex Harrison, a handsome red rabbit with a gray face that looks like a 5 o'clock shadow.

Considering their ordeal, volunteers are surprised by how friendly the rabbits are.

"Do you know why?" said volunteer Lisa Nicolai, a Los Angeles actress. "They're so grateful."

Permanent homes for rabbits aren't the only things the group needs.

They could also use foster parents for those awaiting placement. Drivers to take rabbits to vets. Vets willing to work pro bono. People with a surplus of hay. People willing to donate money. People willing to donate time. And if you want a rabbit, but can't afford the adoption fee, it will be waived if you're willing to volunteer.

In short, if you're breathing, you're needed.

"We've had some dynamic, busy people making time to do this," Bona Tucker said. "People who are vice presidents of a company, business people with lives and they're making time to look after these bunnies."

The estimated cost of looking after so many rabbits: $1,000 a month.

Not surprisingly, the foundation doesn't want to baby-sit bunnies forever.

"We're trying to encourage people to take in a group," Bona Tucker said. "Not one goes out of here with the ability to make more because they're awful cute, but we don't need more."

For more information on rabbit adoptions, log on to www.rabbit911.com or call 310-539-5679.

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Wanted: Bunny huggers to prevent rabbit abuse

By Linda Cook
Quad City Times (September 23, 2002)

I'm a bunny hugger: There, I said it. And I meant it literally.

Six weeks ago, I adopted my first house rabbit. We met on the "Paula Sands Live!" television show, where he was featured as a Scott County Humane Society adoptable.

I've been crazy about rabbits ever since I saw my favorite movie, "Harvey," when I was a little kid. But I always figured that a lifetime of allergies would prevent me having a bunny as a companion....

Still, there was just something about this particular bunny. I was terrified that I would begin sniffling and hacking away, so I called my allergist's office, and the wonderful nurse there assured me that many patients have pets, adding that I should notify her of any symptoms. So far, so good.

It's true that Elwood, who is a minirex, turned out to be a lot of work for a previously pet-less couple. Elwood uses a littler tray, just like a cat would, so house-breaking was easy. Teaching him to stay away from electrical cords and shoelaces was/is another thing entirely.

But living with Elwood is worth 10 times the effort we've put forth. His energy, good humor and general zest for live are contagious....

Because of Elwood, I began to read about rabbits and various rabbit rescue organizations on the Internet. When I came upon the "rabbit911" Web site, I knew that I must share this Los Angeles story with the kind people of the Quad-Cities.

Here are the facts: Along with her husband, Bona Tucker, of Torrance, Calif., began the PetSave Foundation to help foster and place abandoned rabbits. The "rabbit911" Web site was developed after a heinous, bizarre crime was committed earlier this year.

A PetSave volunteer was informed that a woman was keeping dozens, maybe hundreds, of rabbits in an overcrowded situation at her home. I really, truly can't go into the details of what has happend to these animals that were rescued in April. Let's just say that the Los Angeles branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals became involved to help save these rabbits from squalid living conditions (you can learn more from the Web site at www.rabbit911.com/).

"In addition to the 356 rounded up in one day, an additional 160-plus live births happened before spays could be scheduled," says Bona. Now she is among the volunteers who take care of the bunnies seven days a week.

She mentions the older ones that bear the physical scars of territorial fighting because of overcrowding. "It was suggested to me that the ones with physical issues should be euthanized because they are less adoptable," Bona says.

"I responded that those of us who love rabbits could take the scroungiest one there with torn or missing ears, and scabs, etc., and love it just as much as a 'perfect' bunny, maybe even more. I have placed a three-legged bunny, a one-eyed bunny and a bunny missing most of both ears in loving homes..."

So far, charges have not been filed agains the woman who tried to keep all those rabbits. The poor lady obviously needs help.

But so does Bona, and so do other animal rescue organizations.

OK, it's true that no one from the Illinois/Iowa region can be a regular volunteer at PetSave. But there are animal rescue organizations throughout the Quad-City region that could use your help, whether you adopt an animal that needs a home, donate supplies or help by providing financial assistance.

You can find the names of those terrific groups in your phone book. PetSave Foundation can be contacted at PO Box 11368, Torrance, CA 90510, or online at www.rabbit911.com.

Thanks for reading. Elwood thanks you too.

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An earful on rabbits

By Nick Green
THE DAILY BREEZE (April 19, 2003)

Pink foam ears flopping and excited bunny-painted faces smiling, a herd of small children surrounded Torrance's Bona Tucker on Friday as she sat on a hay bale with a large unnamed gray rabbit, its nose perpetually twitching.

Tucker - or more precisely several of her rabbits - shared center stage with the likes of the Energizer Bunny and what the Los Angeles Zoo's relentlessly punny public relations staff billed as other "egg-citing egg-tivities" at the annual "egg-stravaganza" dubbed "Big Bunny's Spring Fling."

The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sunday, attracts thousands of youngsters to Griffith Park each Easter weekend.

Periodically, a small, tentative hand reached out to gently stroke the soft fur of the rabbit sitting placidly on Tucker's lap.

"Look at these furry feet," cooed former Redondo Beach resident Teri Milio, as she guided the hand of her 20-month-old daughter down the rabbit's back. "You'd think rabbits would be the luckiest animals in the world when they have feet like this."

Emma Opper, 1, of Sun Valley, discovers a bunny's nose Friday at Bona Tucker's Booth.

Tucker, president of rabbit rescue group PetSave Foundation, knows that's not the case.

"If I convince one person to get their rabbit fixed or if I get one adoption or I convince one person not to buy an Easter bunny it's worth it," she said of her weekend at the zoo.

For Tucker, rabbit education is a lot like rabbit reproduction - a seemingly never-ending task.

The rabbit on Tucker's lap was one of about 450 she and her rabbit rescue group helped liberate a year ago from a Mar Vista home where they were kept in squalid conditions by 50-year-old Linda Latshaw.

Latshaw pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal neglect and was sentenced to three years probation, 100 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine payable to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which seized the animals.

The PetSave Foundation (which received $500 for its ongoing role in caring for the critters) has found homes for 170 of the rabbits.

And Tucker's group has just 244 of the rabbits remaining thankfully neutered or spayed now - that must be adopted.

But Easter brings new challenges - in the form of new rabbits.

"Two to three months prior to Easter we get all the dumps,"
Tucker said. "I hope to God people aren't releasing last year's bunny in anticipation of buying a baby. It's a very disturbing trend."

Tucker estimates she is offered at least one rabbit a day by someone who claims they can no longer care for it. She usually declines the offer.

After all, Tucker ran afoul of Torrance's municipal code last year when someone told code enforcement officers Tucker was breaking the law by keeping about 75 rabbits at her home.

She was - including rabbits from city-owned Madrona Marsh, where staff would call her to rescue unwanted rabbits dumped there.

Fortunately, understanding city officials awarded Tucker a special temporary permit to keep up to 80 rabbits (she's now down to 40).

Not surprisingly, Tucker has little patience for those she views as trying to evade responsibility for a life, even if it is a rabbit's.

During the past five years as a rabbit rescuer, she reckons she has dealt with about 700 bunnies.

Among the people she has to educate are supposed educators, who often keep rabbits in their classroom.

"I get phone calls from teachers who say the mother (rabbit) gave birth and she won't feed the babies," said an exasperated Tucker. "Well, they're not going to nurse when there's a bunch of carnivores watching. And when they ask me 'What am I doing wrong?' I say 'breeding them in the first place.'"

Then there was the teacher who kept a rabbit in a classroom, left it there over the weekend even though the airconditioning invariably shut off and was surprised to come in one Monday morning to find a deceased bunny.

Which is why this Easter weekend, while parents and children are enjoying warm fuzzy feelings from warm fuzzy bunnies, Tucker will tuck in a quick sermon about responsible pet ownership - or hand those who are receptive an educational brochure.

Zoo officials help out, reminding visitors that getting a bunny for Easter is not a passing seasonal fancy - it's a commitment of several years.

So Tucker welcomes the likes of Ginger Tang of Glendale, her 6-year-old daughter Brianna and 3-year-old son Jacob.

Tang said she has had three litter-trained bunnies as pets over the years; now her daughter wants one. Tucker quickly hands her a brochure.

"I knew you can get cats and dogs and stuff like that at shelters, but I didn't know you could get bunnies," exclaims Tang.

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