Officers on alert for animals being sold illegally in L.A.'s fashion district

It’s springtime and there’s a bumper crop of unweaned animals being sold illegally on the sidewalks of L.A.'s downtown fashion district.

Los Angeles police Officer Matthew Shafer, who patrols the streets and lots around the Santee Alley shopping mecca, was routinely scouring a Wall Street parking garage on Easter Sunday when he spied a man rustling plastic in a van and went to investigate.

In the van, Shafer found 118 turtles. In another van next to it, he discovered 23 underage rabbits.

"I thought, 'Getting bunnies on Easter -- this is awesome,'" said Shafer who had arrested another illegal sidewalk vendor selling rabbits and turtles the previous weekend on 12th Street and Maple Avenue.

Counterfeit handbags and DVDs are not the only problems for police downtown. The illegal sale of animals -- often unweaned and malnourished or sick -- is a perennial problem, according to Los Angeles police, downtown security officers and the city’s animal service officials.

When animal services officials can certify that animals are in bad condition, their vendors can be charged with animal cruelty -- as was Raymundo Hernandez, the man Shafer arrested in the parking garage.

The animals were confiscated and turned over to Lejla Hadzimuratovic, a rabbit rescuer who runs an organization called Bunny World Foundation.

Vendors who are arrested generally are back on the street dodging officers shortly afterward, said Shafer, who energetically pursues them nonetheless.

“Sometimes, it’s hit or miss,” Shafer said of the search for vendors and their animal wares. “It’s like fishing.”

Shafer and the yellow-shirted fashion district security officers are practically heroes in the eyes of animal rescuers.

Hadzimuratovic takes on the task of nursing the tiny rabbits -- often just days old -- with a mixture of kitten formula, goat milk and colostrum pills. If they live -- and sometimes they don’t -- she and volunteers work to keep them all fed and cared for until she can adopt them out.

In the last 10 days, she has taken in about 40 of the furry creatures. The unweaned rabbits that officials confiscated more than a week ago and turned over to her have survived.

“All seven buns are alive and kicking,” she said.

-- Carla Hall

Photo: A box of unweaned rabbits confiscated Easter Sunday in a downtown parking garage. Credit: Lejla Hadzimuratovic.

Comments

[Unabashed animal advocate]

Kudos and blessings upon Officer Shafer. He's doing the Lord's work. But unless more teeth are put into current laws, a slap on the wrist won't do much to deter these folks. I'd like to see the authorities go the next step, too, and get to the source of the problem which are the breeders who keep the animals in deplorable conditions and breed the females literally to death.

Thank you, Officer Shafer and Ms. Hadjimuratovic for your good work. You are heroes.

[James]

Isn't pretty much EVERYTHING being sold illegally in the fashion district?

[Diana]

i want to help this cause! is there anything i can do? protests? signs? i have tons of animal activist friends willing to help! will that help with breeders not coming around anymore or will that do harm by them not coming around and not being able to save the rabbits they already have?

[Doug]

This scourge exists because there is a demand from the people of LA. People, or should I say maggots, caught selling should be put in cages. The people caught buying should be forced to take these maggots home and feed and care for them.

[kuruc]

this is a latino tradition, NOT ITALIAN.

[mmmkit]

To Diana (and anyone else interested): Plant spies out on the streets pretending to be interested in purchasings, and then turn them in! This is so cruel.

[luckybuns]

Kudos to Bunny World Foundation. It's a great thing that woman is doing. I only wish there were more people who respected animals like she does. But there's not.

[Los Angeles Accident Lawyer]

I live in downtown and frequently walk around the fashion district. There does not seem to be any kind of enforcement going on. From the sale of animals to unpermitted food carts to pirate DVD sales, it is all happening everywhere.

[ROBIN]

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP THERE ARE SOME LADYS SELLING SICK UNDER AGED PUPS THERE IN LOS ANGELES FASHION DISTRECT PLEASE HELP STOP THIS. I RESUED ONE AND 2 DAYS LATER WAS DIEING STOP THESE PEOPLE IT HAPPENS EVERY SAT AND SUNDAY