16 rabbits rescued, 1 dead after being dumped in Bridgeport park, officials say
Sixteen rabbits were rescued from a city park on April 1 after being abandoned; a 17th rabbit was recovered but died from injuries.
Multiple local rescue groups, including Red Door Animal Shelter and The Moon Dog Farm, are working together to secure and rehome the surviving rabbits, many of whom were in poor condition.
Chicago Animal Care and Control urged the public not to release domestic rabbits into the wild, warning they cannot survive on their own.
CHICAGO - Sixteen rabbits were rescued after being abandoned in a city park on April 1, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control. A 17th rabbit was also recovered but later died from its injuries.
What we know
Chicago Animal Control said the timing initially led them to believe it could have been an April Fools' Day prank — "but sadly it was not."
Animal control officers responded to reports of loose rabbits at McGuane (John) Park and found that all 17 had broken free from enclosures and scattered across the park. Many were in "very poor condition," according to officials.
The 16 surviving rabbits were secured and transferred to several local rescue organizations in the days that followed April 1, including Red Door Animal Shelter, The Moon Dog Farm, Anti-Cruelty, Animal Care League in Oak Park and One Tail at a Time. Many of the rabbits are now being cared for and remain available for adoption.
The Moon Dog Farm posted about the rescue on Facebook and is working to rehome and care for the rabbits. Many of them are still up for adoption. You can learn more here.
What they're saying
The full statement from Chicago Animal Care and Control can be read below:
"Chicago Animal Care and Control is grateful to all the rescue partners who came together to ensure these abandoned domestic rabbits received the urgent care they needed. Our Animal Control Officers responded quickly and safely secured all 17 animals. We're proud to have played a role in this collaborative rescue effort.
"This took place on April 1st, and while we hoped it was an April Fools' joke, it sadly was not. It's important to remember that it is never safe to dump domestic rabbits. These animals cannot survive on their own and are at serious risk of injury or death.
"Sadly, one rabbit did not survive. The remaining 16 were transferred to rescue organizations in the days following April 1st. We thank our rescue partners for stepping up so quickly. If you're struggling to care for your pet rabbits, please reach out, we're here to help."
Red Door and The Moon Dog Farm shared these posts on Facebook regarding the incident:
"Many thanks to @themoondogfarm for organizing the placement of 17 rabbits dumped in a city park - many in very poor condition. When rescues work together, we can save mores lives," Red Door said on social media.
"The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind. Yesterday, while en route to our friends at Anti-Cruelty to pull the 3 buns we committed to, we learned that 17 buns had been dumped in a park near Chinatown. Yes, 17. All in some type of something until they broke out and dispersed. Chicago Animal Care and Control officers did an amazing job of catching all.
"Many amazing Chicago rescues collaborated to get all 16 pulled. (As sadly one passed due to injuries)
"This entire rescue is what a village is and does. MDF is proud to be a part of this village. Working with our friends at Red Door, @Anti-Cruelty, @Animal Care League in Oak Park, and @ One Tail at a Time- in 24 hours all 16 got to rescue!
"Please meet our 3. 2 females- Oboe + Clarinet and 1 male- Trombone. All are eating and getting much needed decompression. Thankfully, we were able to secure spay and neuter appointments on Tuesday too.
"Welcome sweethearts, we are full up on buns and glad you're here.
"Thank you to our friends at CACC and the officers who were able to secure all," The Moon Dog Farm said.
What we don't know
It is currently unknown who abandoned the rabbits. The investigation is ongoing.
We'll bring more updates to this story as they become available.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Legally protected nesting birds delayed fire cleanup on 200-plus burned properties
Nearly three months after the Palisades fire burned down our family home on now aptly named Carbon Canyon, I was told on April Fools' Day that a debris removal crew would soon be clearing its charred remains. Thank goodness, the cavalry finally was on its way. But just minutes after a giant excavator toppled our two brick chimneys, a muscle-bound foreman called a halt to the work with a shrill whistle. Workers huddled. Supervisors phoned. One of them pronounced: Work clearing our 77-year-old ranch house must stop. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to make sure that asbestos in our house's foundation had all been cleared away. That was confirmed within a day or two. All the hazardous material had been bagged and trucked off. But still we waited. Weeks passed without much of an update. It wasn't until June that I learned the main reason for the delay. On a garbled voicemail, I could make out only that it had something to do with 'habitat' and 'stress.' When I made my way to Carbon Canyon, I found a tiny sign posted at the end of our driveway. 'Nesting Bird Buffer,' it read. 'Restricted area. DO NOT ENTER.' Debris cleanup crews keep a lookout for family treasures, mature trees and even the graves of buried pets. They checked all those boxes in the home, where I grew up with my parents, brother and sister and myriad dogs. But I had not realized their work plans also paid special attention to wild birds. An Army Corps contractor explained that they were following the requirements of the Migratory Bird Act of 1918, signed by President Wilson, to stop a massive kill-off of birds beneficial to humankind. The law prohibits 'taking' without a permit not only birds but their nests and eggs too. Environmental observers had fanned out across the burn zones to make sure the cleanup attended to the rules. Our property was one of 216 in the burn zones (80 in the Palisades and Malibu and 136 in Altadena) where cleanups were put at least briefly on hold to try to protect nesting birds and their young. In cases when the homeowners could not afford to wait, bird observers would turn into bird movers. A total of 181 fire rescue birds (including bushtits, acorn wookpeckers and red-shouldered hawks) were recently still in the care of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach. The work hiatus at our place began after a contractor spotted a pair of mourning doves on our hillside. The doves cleared out in a few days, but then observers spotted at least two pairs of hooded orioles, building nests high up in our heavily scorched palm trees. Of course it was the orioles! Each spring of my semirural eastern Malibu childhood, the orioles would take center stage. While other critters tended to wear the muted colors of the chaparral-choked hillsides, the orioles flew in from their wintering grounds in Mexico sporting a much more rakish look. The females wore elegant yellow feathers, while the males sported bright orange 'hoods' and midnight-black wings. The birds' startling colors seized our attention. And their family life held it. They returned each year to banana trees right beside our swimming pool. On the underside of the banana fronds, they'd weave straw and pine needles into tear-drop-shaped baskets. Nests so finely crafted they could have hung in a gallery. Then, and now, they also constitute a crucial link in the food chain, especially notable for keeping the insect population in check. I hadn't thought about these old neighbors for years, though I visited the old house frequently, until my mom's death about a year ago. Now, they'd delayed us, and others, in getting on with whatever comes next. The response has been more open than you'd expect. 'I lost my home and would happily delay for the short amount of time it would take for these eggs to hatch,' Kelly Jackson, whose home burned down in the Eaton fire, said on social media. She wasn't alone. Most of us around the fire zones have come to realize that it will take much more than concrete, Sheetrock and double-pane windows to restore our communities. In our stretch of the sagebrush, it might take the brilliant, plucky orioles. They are among the grittiest survivors, a reminder of what endures. Kristen Breck says, 'Stinson Beach!!' Jaime Del Carpio says, 'Crystal Cove.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's photo is from Times contributor Ron De Angelis at the workshop of master refinisher Aaron Moore who shares his tips on the 'lost art' of refinishing. Jim Rainey, staff writerDiamy Wang, homepage internIzzy Nunes, audience internHugo Martin, assistant editor for Fast BreakKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Miami Herald
05-06-2025
- Miami Herald
Toothless cat has ‘grumpy grandpa face' that hides a soft side. He needs a home
A toothless cat has a 'grumpy grandpa face' — but don't let it fool you. 'Sure, he looks like he's about to yell at you for stepping on his lawn… but the truth? He's a total marshmallow. The kind that melts in your hands,' a North Carolina shelter wrote June 3 on Facebook. 'We could barely snap a photo — Archie kept smushing into us, climbing into arms like he'd been waiting a lifetime to be held.' Archie needs a home after he landed at the Watauga Humane Society on April 1. 'It felt like the universe's idea of a twisted joke,' the shelter wrote. 'No, not him — he's no prank — but the timing? Classic April Fools. Because the moment he shuffled in, toothless and opinionated, we figured we had a spicy senior on our hands.' Archie is a 9-year-old cat who once lived as a stray and was adopted. He lived in the home for about two years but struggled around his owners' dogs. So, he often retreated to an isolated spot until his family made the 'difficult decision' to give him up, Danielle Deschamps, communications coordinator for the shelter, told McClatchy News via email. The shelter doesn't know how Archie lost his teeth but said he likely didn't receive adequate dental care earlier in life. Despite his 'cranky' looks, he has been working to trust people. 'We were told he was extremely skittish and spent much of his time hiding,' wrote Deschamps, who shared pictures of Archie sprawled out on the floor. 'But as you can see in the photos — he's coming out of his shell beautifully. He's shown us a softer, more social side that didn't have a chance to shine in his previous environment.' As of June 5, the shelter's website listed Archie among the cats up for adoption. Details about the animal organization's adoption process can be found at 'We're hopeful his perfect person is out there — someone who will appreciate his quiet strength and give him the peaceful home he's always needed,' Deschamps wrote. The humane society is in the mountain town of Boone, a roughly 85-mile drive west from Winston-Salem.
Chicago Tribune
01-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
PAWS Chicago puts pet rescue ‘mission front and center' at Gold Coast adoption event
Paula Fasseas always loved animals but never thought she would dedicate her life to saving cats and dogs. 'I always thought I'd like to be a vet, but I really didn't like blood so much. And it was funny, because back then, as a kid, growing up, you liked animals, the vet was the only path,' Fasseas said. But that all changed when her daughter was volunteering at a local animal shelter about 28 years ago. She said her daughter would tell her about the high number of animals being euthanized at shelters. Fasseas knew she wanted to save these animals — and that started with getting the word out. 'I thought, 'If people knew, they'd come and adopt these animals. How can I get them down here?'' Fasseas said. She started to think about streets like Michigan Avenue and Oak Street, which were lively and attracted people with their designer stores. Fasseas decided to host her first adoption event along some of those streets and the next day, she was inundated with calls from people asking how they could help. Now, 28 years later, Fasseas is still hosting the adoption event along some of the most fashionable streets in the Gold Coast neighborhood. She has also since started PAWS Chicago, one of the largest comprehensive no-kill animal welfare organizations in the country. Forty retailers along Oak Street, Rush Street, Delaware Place and Michigan Avenue lent their storefronts and windows Sunday to PAWS for the annual Angels With Tails event. Inside and outside, people perusing the luxury shopping streets could find everything from playful kittens to former greyhound racing dogs. 'The idea is to bring homeless pets into the community, into areas where people are just walking around, where they'll encounter them and hopefully fall in love and adopt. It's a way to bring the mission front and center,' said Susanna Wickham, CEO of PAWS Chicago. This year's event also comes as Chicago Animal Care and Control is receiving more animals than it can take care of. In a Facebook post, the agency said that in the first 20 days of May, it has received an average of 56 animals a day. That number is a slight jump from April, when the agency saw about 54 animals a day. 'During COVID, they had very few animals given up at Animal Control, and a lot of people in demand for animals, wanting animals,' Fasseas said. But in the aftermath of the pandemic, more people are giving up their animals. That trend is consistent with a nationwide crisis in animal shelters. Since the pandemic, many shelters are seeing a surge in the number of animals they are receiving. In 2023, 6.5 million animals entered shelters across the nation, a slight increase from 2021, according to Shelter Animals Count's national database. That number slightly decreased in 2024, with 5.8 million animals entering shelters. Despite the decrease, many shelters still say that they are at capacity and struggling to meet the needs of their communities. 'The thing that is the most alarming is just the amount of abandoned and stray pets, and also the amount of pets that are relinquished by their owners,' Wickham said. 'These numbers have been surging for the last couple of years, but they continue to be on an upward trajectory, and it's just largely tied to the economy.' More specifically, Fasseas explained that a combination of skyrocketing veterinary costs, people moving to new areas and general life transitions following the pandemic contributed to the surge in animals. 'There are a lot of people that can barely feed their families,' Fasseas said, let alone provide their pet with medical care. At the Sunday adoption event, dogs patiently sat outside stores like Dolce & Gabbana and Lafayette 148 as people stopped to play with them. Many people were looking for their next feline friend. 'Before I would just walk, play with the puppies — but this year was my time to shine,' Kristen Crabtree, a Gold Coast resident, said. She had spent hours online looking at the cats that were going to be at the event and found herself thinking about two kittens — Hobbes and Fuzz. Luckily, she arrived early and now says she has two new 'best friends to play with.' Yuri Torres, a Jefferson Park resident, had been looking for an orange cat. 'I love orange-flavored things, like oranges or mangoes, and so I always just associate tangerines and oranges with happiness,' Torres said. When she saw an orange and white kitten inside the Marc Jacobs store named Cherub, she instantly fell in love. 'I feel a connection to him,' Torres said. By the end of the day, she'd added a new member to her family.
