Volunteers worry woman who dumped rabbits at a park could have 100

Rescuers believe a Middletown woman could have dumped up to 100 rabbits at a park early Saturday morning. After hours of searching, 33 were caught, treated and placed in foster care. 

But without knowing how many rabbits were dumped, the search continued into Saturday evening with plans to begin again Sunday morning looking for the abandoned bunnies.

It's a tragedy, said Lisa Owney, one of the volunteers. She woke up shocked to see multiple texts about domesticated rabbits running around Smith Park. She immediately drove over to the park at 8 a.m. and remained throughout the evening. 

"I just want all the bunnies to be okay. I'm praying," Owney said. 

Throughout the day, groups of people from the community and six different animal shelters worked together to catch 33 rabbits using everything from nets to their bare hands. 

“Oh, they’re fast. We’ve used nets, we’ve used our bare hands. We’ve had people diving to the brush,” Owney said.

As more volunteers arrived at Smith Park throughout the afternoon, she gave them advice on how to best catch the rabbits.

While crouching to the ground and demonstrating with her hands, Owney explained, "the best thing to do with these bunnies is getting down low so it's not as intimidating for them. You’re literally going to be diving. We have nets, you can go ahead and take the nets.”

Many of the volunteers who showed up said they had rabbits of their own which made this personal. 

In addition to the 33 rabbits caught at the park, Animal Control removed 12 more rabbits from the woman's home.

A veterinarian drove down to Smith park to help treat the rescued rabbits. Some needed wound care and antibiotics. 

Owney said all of the rabbits will be okay with care but they had different degrees of wounds. One was missing an ear, she said.