Rabbit crisis: SF animal shelter asking for adoptions as bunny dumping in parks explodes
"Domestic rabbits should not be dumped into the wild. They are not wildlife. They won't survive for long on their own."
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There's a rabbit crisis in San Francisco. The city's Animal Care and Control says it's overwhelmed by the numbers it's seeing and it asking for the public's help.
For her entire life, Allison Yuen has loved animals.
"They're friendly, but the thing is they all have different personalities," she said.
That's why, when she heard about pet rabbits being dumped in Golden Gate Heights Park, she knew she had to help.
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Allison joined a group of volunteers led by an Oakland woman named Jessica to rescue some of the rabbits.
Allison says it wasn't easy to get all of the rabbits thanks to the tall grass and vegetation here in the park. She tells me it took her and the other volunteers three days to get them all.
"The rabbit was in a bush and I was the smallest and I had already netted one of them, so they sent me in," Yuen said.
This isn't an isolated incident though.
MORE: Bay Area shelters make plea to pet owners as facilities overflow with abandoned animals
San Francisco Animal Care and Control say they and other shelters around the Bay Area are overwhelmed with the number of rabbits coming in.
Many of them rescued after being left in local parks.
"Domestic rabbits should not be dumped into the wild. They are not wildlife. They won't survive for long on their own," said SFACC's Amy Corso.
To help with the overflow, SFACC is dropping rabbit adoption fees, and asking people prepared for the commitment to consider taking one home.
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They say some of the rabbits have been sitting in their facilities for months, and they don't want them to be put down.
"We do everything we can before we get to that point, and luckily we have really good rescue partners," Corso said.
As for Allison, she's happy the rabbits are now safe. And she's hoping soon they'll find a forever home.
"Provide them space and attention and the right food, because we don't want people to take them on and then dump them again," she said.
For more information on adoptions, visit here.
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