Rescue & Adoptions

Past Featured Rescues

Bernie

Concerned by an online posting advertising free rabbits, volunteers from the House Rabbit Society and the East Bay Animal Advocates visited a home in Hayward, California to investigate. Behind the home, they made a gruesome discovery.

In a tiny backyard enclosure, the volunteers found rabbit corpses strewn across the ground. The yard was littered with piles of bones, feces and decaying body parts. Huddling in fright behind gas cans, car parts and heaps of garbage were more than thirty miserable survivors. Those rabbits still living were suffering from serious medical problems, including tumors, open sores, shredded ears and eye infections. Their fur was matted and bleached yellow with urine. All of the food bowls in the enclosure were empty, except for fecal matter, and the only available water was foul smelling and soupy, and filled with feces, algae and dirt.

Horrified by what they saw, the volunteers called Hayward Animal Services and returned to the property with humane officers the following day. The officers decided, without hesitation, that all of surviving rabbits should be immediately removed from the residence. They gently picked up each of the rabbits and comforted them with soothing words as they were transported to a city shelter in Hayward.

As the rabbits began to recover from their ordeal, the House Rabbit Society searched for new homes for the brave bunnies. When the Society contacted Farm Sanctuary and told us of the horrors they had found in Hayward, we jumped at the chance to help. We arranged for four of the rabbits, Bernie, Sam, Seymore, and Sombra, to be transported to our California Shelter.

Anticipating their arrival, we prepared a comfortable, straw-filled suite for the quartet in our bunny barn and set out fresh water and plenty of tasty veggies to welcome them. When the rabbits first stepped out of their carriers and into their clean and spacious new home, they were a little frightened, but excited and curious too. Within no time, they were exploring each and every corner of their new territory, jumping onto the straw bales and bounding out their tiny bunny door into their spacious, outdoor pen.

Each day, Bernie, Sam, Seymore, and Sombra while away the hours napping in the sunlight, munching on bunny treats and getting to know their caregivers. What seems a long time ago now, in their dark past, Bernie and his friends must have dreamed of a place like this. Now, most deservedly, they receive the love and respect every creature wants. Also, most deservedly, the woman who caused them so much pain has been held accountable for their suffering. On October 15th, 2004, Janine Marie Cazares was led from her home in handcuffs and charged with animal cruelty.