Easter Island: Exotic bunnies at home in city
Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down ... West Wayne Street?
Those who live in the city's Island neighborhood barely give a second glance to the exotic pet rabbits that were let loose by their owner about a year ago and left to fend for themselves.
The hare-raising situation turned out fine for the rabbits. They did what rabbits are famous for and populated the Island with their artistically pelted offspring.
The rabbits on Virginia and Negley avenues and West Wayne and West Diamond streets are black and white, plain black or white, tan, orange and gray and brownish black. Most are noticeably larger than the area's native rabbits, and don't carrot all when folks stare at them.
Some will allow a stranger to approach and pet them, while others become the fast and the furriest when a human gets too close.
The ear-resistable mammals don't seem to bother the neighborhood's residents, even when the bunnies decide to sun themselves in the middle of the street.
While one of the population occasionally meets a grim fate under the wheels of a car, most are pretty lucky in the high-traffic streets. After all, they do have four rabbit's feet.
“One day, there were about 10 of them in the middle of the road,” said Alysha Zurzola of West Wayne Street. “I beeped my horn and they would not move. I had to get out and shoo them away.”
She said the bunnies pose no problem as they hop about, chewing on grass or whatever they can find to sustain themselves.On one occasion, Zurzola's daughter threw a French fry to a rabbit and it chased her down the street in a bid to get more. “I never saw her run that fast,” Zurzola said. “It was cute.”Zurzola's daughters, Neveah and Maliyah Schweinsberg, ages 11 and 10, respectively, both like to chase the rabbits and try to catch them.But both girls worry about the feral nature of the rabbits' situation.“I think people should catch them and keep them because they need homes,” said Maliyah. “They get cold in the winter.”Neveah is glad her parents and neighbors watch out for the bunnies as they come and go.“It's kind of hard to park sometimes because they're always on the road,” she said.Justin Roberts, also of West Wayne Street, said he sees at least 15 different exotic rabbits regularly.He heard a renter let several pet rabbits loose before moving away, hence the hopping population.“Some of them will let you hold them,” Roberts said. “You have to shoo them away from under your car sometimes, but they're pretty cool.”Trenton Cutwright, 15, of West Wayne Street said he started seeing the rabbits last summer. “I think they're cute and cuddly,” Trenton said of the wild bunnies, “but I don't think it should be allowed because they could get hit by a car.”Elizabeth Boofer, who lives near the end of West Wayne, said she was surprised when she began spying rabbits on the streets and sidewalks.“At first, I thought they were wild, then the different colored ones started coming out,” Boofer said. “My son has been trying to catch one for a year.”Butler's Mayor, Ben Smith, is a resident of the neighborhood and says he enjoys the rabbits. He is unaware of anyone complaining about them living in the city setting or wanting to get rid of them.“They've never been an issues, so I've never looked into it,” Smith said. “My wife has a garden and flowers every year and as far as I know, they've never gotten into it.”He has seen tan, white and black specimens.“There are three that hang out right next to my house almost daily,” Smith said. “I don't even think about them, they're so commonplace.”He said the city has never received a complaint about the rabbits to his knowledge.“They're just cool bunnies,” Smith said.Kathy Kummer, the show superintendent of the Butler County Rabbit Breeders, said the rabbits cannot breed with the native bunnies because they are two different species.She said the hardy creatures can easily survive winter.“They burrow into the unfrozen ground and hide under things, so they can create a den to get out of the weather,” Kummer said.Regarding food, she said rabbits must have water to digest their meals. The population probably relies on the Connoquenessing Creek on the western end of the Island, even in the winter, Kummer said.
“They can actually survive because they'll chip away at the ice to manage in all types of weather,” she said.Food is also available in the winter, when bunnies will access the growth underneath the snowfall to find a snack.She frowns on intentionally turning pet rabbits loose to fend for themselves because they can become food for predators, such as foxes, hawks and even cats.“It's like letting a dog loose without anyone to take care of it,” Kummer said.Bonnie Glenn, the dock supervisor at the Butler Eagle's office and production center on West Wayne, said five or six litters of kits have been born in the Eagle's rear lot under a compactor.Glenn, who is a former 4-H group leader and show superintendent in the rabbit category at the Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show, said a normal litter has six to 10 kits, but litters can vary from two to 13 babies. “As they get older, they have smaller litters,” Glenn said.She said the truck drivers who bring supplies to the Eagle's production center have bonded with the bunnies and leave them greens and carrots.“They leave things in the parking lot by the compactor,” Glenn said.She feeds and waters the rabbits when they have a litter, and she's not alone.“I think everyone in the building feeds them,” Glenn said of the Eagle employees. “I've seen peppers, cucumber, zucchini and tomatoes out there.”Glenn cautions those who feed the rabbits not to give them broccoli or cabbage, as those vegetables would produce too much gas in the animals.One particularly popular rabbit in the neighborhood and at the Eagle is a black and white specimen, which Glenn said is a male mini rex breed.“When you look out and see the little black-and-white rabbit running around, it brings a smile to your face,” Glenn said. “The other day I saw four of them playing and running around.”She said the show rabbits she and her daughter raised were allowed outside year-round because they are hardy. She postulates that the rabbits were bought at the fair or farm show and became unmanageable, so they were set free.Because they are thriving, it appears the bunnies will continue to delight adults and children alike in the city's Island neighborhood.“A rabbit can have a litter every 31 days,” Glenn said.
