Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Bunnies rescued

October 31, 2013 Brian Wilford, Oceanside Star

A desperate plea to RCMP from a Coombs woman last week to save two baby bunnies resulted in the recovery of a trailer full of stolen rabbits, as well as thousands of dollars worth of cages and other equipment.

Susan Vickery, who runs the Earthanimal Humane Education and Rescue Society (EARS), located beside the World Parrot Refuge in Coombs, discovered the two newborns missing on Tuesday evening last week.

The EARS compound was created as a sanctuary for rabbits from the University of Victoria but is now also home to rabbits trapped in the Coombs area and beyond.

Vickery was dumbfounded when she discovered the babies missing, since they'd been in one of many locked cages on the site. "I just sat staring at the cage," she said Saturday. "I guess I didn't get it because I don't think like a criminal."

A helper at the sanctuary showed her that when the pellet dish is pulled from the cage wall it leaves a hole big enough to drag out a baby bunny. And pulling out the pee tray from the cage stacked above leaves a big-enough gap for a full-grown rabbit.

Suddenly, months of missing rabbits and equipment came into focus for Vickery: "It had to have been an inside job. "I'd always thought I must have left a cage unlocked or a gate open, or that the Parrot Refuge must have borrowed a cage," Vickery said. "It didn't dawn on me that it was the good-looking rabbits that were going missing. "She immediately suspected two neighbourhood teen girls who had been volunteering at the sanctuary and went off to find their father at a nearby bar, ."Oh yeah," she said he told her. "We've got a trailer full of them."

She then went to an area trailer park and confronted the mother, who basically told her to get lost. It was getting late in the day and Vickery was concerned that if she didn't find the babies and feed them their formula they would die." That's when I called the police," she said.

The Oceanside RCMP officer wasn't all that interested, and said she was going "off-shift. "Vickery stewed and called back, saying the RCMP would soon be dealing with "media and dead animals. "That evening two police cars pulled into the trailer park and Vickery was called to the scene. She stepped into what was "clearly a grow-op trailer; there was tin foil over all the windows," and found it full of rabbits and cages.

One officer, who already had expressed an interest in leaving, demanded to know how she knew they were her rabbits and if the cages had serial numbers. She pointed to marks she'd made on the rabbits, and thankfully, she said, the other officer was more interested. The babies weren't there, however. "The girls had fled with the babies," Vickery said. "The police picked them up on the highway. "Returning with the girls, the police allowed Vickery to collect the rabbits and her gear. "The girls were crying but they became angry when they saw me taking the rabbits back," Vickery said. "There was no remorse. It was sad."

The rabbits appeared to be well-cared-for, thanks to the sanctuary's supplies. However, some had not seen daylight for months. The girls explained that they'd kept the trailer locked because their brother "likes to hurt animals," Vickery said. "That just made me ill. "She said this week she has since learned that "the people have been stealing the rabbits and selling them for $30 apiece for meat. It's really disturbing.

"Vickery said neighbours have warned her that some people in the trailer park are "dangerous." The police, she said, told her, "Security is your issue," but they've opened a file and the SPCA is also investigating. Vickery is struggling with remorse over what happened to her rabbits. "People are bringing me rabbits and they and donors are trusting me to care for them," she said. "It's a betrayal on so many levels."

Comment: More sad drama in the ongoing saga of the Coombs facility rabbits. Finally, after months of rabbits missing from the site, the thefts are reported to police and the SPCA. Former volunteers were the culprits, admitting to the removal of ten rabbits. Some had been sold as meat!

This professed ‘sanctuary’ has been anything but since its inception. First mistake, EARS made the location public. Secondly, rabbits were unsecured and free to roam outside the compound and then promptly shot when venturing onto a neighbour’s property. There have been nothing but problems since, with these trusting and dependent creatures, the littlest victims, paying the ultimate price. Heartbreaking, to be sure, which begs the question, what does the future hold (if any) and does this sort of publicity hinder potential sanctuaries or shelters from being set up.

Clearly, the rabbits are in jeopardy at this location. Ms. Vickery should not be putting additional lives at risk by taking in more. Her contract with the provincial government stipulated that the compound was for UVic rabbits only.