Unwanted rabbits dumped in Smallford rugby field
The white rabbit, dumped on the rugby field next to the Village Vet, Smallford - can you give her a home? - Credit: Archant
Staff at a veterinary surgery in St Albans who have had to rehome a rabbit that was found dumped in a nearby rugby field are urging those looking to get rid of their pets to take them to charities.
Greyhound-owner Marion Foster was taking her dog for a walk on the rugby field next to the Village Vet surgery in Smallford, St Albans, when she noticed two rabbits curled up on the grass.
She said: “I’m lucky I didn’t let my dog loose because I noticed these beautiful rabbits on the grass.”
Marion, 66, says she then slowly approached the rabbits and picked one up and took it into the Village Vet. She said: “I was so chuffed that I’d managed to catch him.”
Staff in the practice then collected the other rabbit and brought them both inside.
Practice manager Alex Spelzini explained that she found pets that have been dumped six or seven times each year. She said: “I sometimes suspect that with Christmas coming up, people want to get puppies and don’t want the pets they’ve already got and just get rid of them.
“If people don’t want their rabbit anymore, they should be trying to find it a new home and not dumping it in a field.”
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Alex said that the rabbits - a white female and a black and white lop-eared male - must have been left very recently, as foxes would have quickly discovered them.
A relative of a member of staff at the Village Vet has agreed to take the male, while the female was given to a rabbit rescue service in Luton.
Alex said: “He wouldn’t have lasted until tea-time. He’s bright white. He’s seriously not going to survive the night outside.”
Those people who are thinking about getting rid of their animals should call the RSPCA or the Blue Cross in Kimpton, according to Alex.
She said: “It’s better if people can take them to charities than bring them to us because when the hospital is full we literally have nowhere to put them – all we do is get in touch with the charities ourselves.”
For the Blue Cross in Kimpton, call 0300 777 1490 or for the RSPCA in Potters Bar, call 0300 123 0704.
