WHEATON (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- DuPage County’s animal shelter is filling up – not with dogs, but rabbits. WBBM Newsradio’s Nancy Harty reports the county has taken in 63 bunnies in the last two weeks alone.
DuPage County Animal Services usually has about a dozen domestic rabbits at its shelter at any given time.
Brian Krajewski, Chairman of the DuPage County Board Animal Services Committee, said they have 80 right now - 63 accepted in the last two weeks - thanks in part to some misgendered rabbits from a local pet store that resulted in accidental litters. In total, 120 rabbits have been accepted since January.
"We get the bunnies separated, and several months later, the next thing you know you have another litter. We've seen a lot of the ones come in with multiple rabbits that's what's happening; over some times, it's just gotten out of control and we have gotten many, many rabbits at one time," he said.
Krajewski said DuPage is also helping out Schaumburg. While the village is not in the county, it also doesn't have a shelter and couldn't care for 40 rabbits police found after a person in an assisted living center got two bunnies at a pet shop.
DuPage County Animal Services is one of the few shelters in the region that accepts domestic rabbits as strays and owner-surrendered pets. Animal Services is working with animal rescues to find them new homes once they are spayed/neutered.
Rabbits purchased from pet stores and breeders are typically not spayed or neutered and can breed between four and five months old. It’s common for an accidental litter to quickly become two accidental litters.
For more information on rabbit care and adoption, please visit www.dupageco.org/animalservices.
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