Police say they’ve seen a series of blue-eyed domestic white rabbits dumped in New Canaan and Wilton in the past two weeks.
The white bunny found March 24 in New Canaan after being dumped. Photo courtesy of New Canaan Animal Control
The five bunnies found between the two towns—most recently on March 24 in New Canaan—represent an “unusual” number of abandoned rabbits, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section.
“We’ve got a serial dumper,” she said.
Though rabbits “are always dumped, the recent string appears to point to one breeder, since all of the animals are white with blue eyes, according to Halm.
The bunny recovered most recently near the Grupes Reservoir in northeastern New Canaan “was very clean and still plump so we don’t think it was out long,” she said.
It’s possible the rabbits are being raised as “meat bunnies,” meaning someone is breeding the animals to be eaten, she said.
Halm put out a call to the general public, for anyone with knowledge of rabbits being bred here to contact Animal Control at 203-594-3510.
The animal found by a family in New Canaan was adopted out following a mandatory seven-day holding period, which Animal Control held with assistance from the New Canaan Nature Center, Halm said.