Wild, Meat-Eating Rabbits Thrive in New York City

Rabbits that seem to have nowhere else to go have set up shop in an industrial area of New York City. The rabbits, which might have been previously domesticated, congregate in a Brooklyn neighborhood called Gowanus. The area is notorious for industrial pollution, but the rabbits have taken to gathering in an empty lot near a tire shop.

According to local news site DNAinfo, there are dozens of white-tailed rabbits who gather in the lot to burrow, hop around, and eat whatever they can find. While they play and hang out on the streets, the woman who says she owns them is a self-purported “rabbit lover,” and claims to be raising the animals. Her account is not confirmed, though, and is at odds with what many area residents have observed.

“They are much more interesting than dogs and cats,” rabbit lover Dorota Trec told DNAinfo. “To me, they are very beautiful.”

The group of rabbits that Trec said she takes care of includes several types, varieties, and sizes. She said she is raising them in the backyard of her apartment building with the permission of the owner. Many of them spend much of the day running around in a filthy, garbage-cluttered alley in-between buildings, though. She said she purchased some of the rabbits from local businesses that slaughter the animals for food.

Though Trec describes the rabbits as sweet and cuddly, area residents who have been observing them for years describe them more as angry city rabbits hardened by life on the streets. Some people have seen the rabbits kicking each other in the face and eating things such as chicken wings. Rabbits are typically herbivores and don’t eat meat.

Area residents have also taken photographs of the rabbits as a favored subject and blogged about them.

The city of New York has tried recently to decrease the population of rabbits in area animal shelters by making it easier and cheaper to adopt the cuddly animals. According to the New York Daily News there has been a recent increase in rabbits in city shelters, following a new ordinance passed by the city that makes it illegal to sell rabbits in pet stores. They can still be kept as pets, though, and the city has made it cheaper to adopt them from shelters.

In 2014 alone, more than 300 rabbits ended up in animal shelters and another 300 went to groups that rescue the animals. The huge population of rabbits in the city might be partially due to the animal’s ability to quickly reproduce in large numbers. Rabbits are known to have as many as 10 bunnies at one time, and it is often hard for new pet owners to accurately determine the gender of the rabbit. The additional rabbits often end up in area shelters.

[Image Via One More Folded Sunset]