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New Mexico couple cited for having 334 bunnies

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A New Mexico couple has been cited for violating a Rio Rancho city ordinance that allows five pets per household after county animal control officers discovered 334 rabbits in their yard.According to a KRQE television news report (video above), Nancy Haseman said it all started 12 years ago with one rabbit that her husband rescued from a neighbor who had abandoned it.

“I love animals,” Haseman said. “So we bought one from Santa Fe and then we found out we could get other ones from the pound.”

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All seemed fine, as they kept the males and females in separate enclosures. That is until the males hopped the fence, and then they started breeding, well, like rabbits.

“That’s how it kind of went out of control,” she said. “I mean, that’s how it did get out of control.”

Animal control became involved when a neighbor complained to the mayor’s office about rabbits eating her garden. When officers arrived at the scene, they spotted bunnies hopping around Haseman’s front yard.

So far, most of the rabbits have been captured, though there are still a handful on the loose. The House Rabbit Society, one of the main rescue groups involved, has spent an estimated $3,600 on the capture, spay/neuter and adoption efforts and reports that so far homes have been found for more than half of Haseman’s rabbits.

Hopefully the bunnies will all live hoppily ever after.

-- Kelly Burgess

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