Have bunnies, need homes

Rabbits at the Auckland SPCA are in desperate need of a home.

The Animal Village in Mangere has been inundated with rabbits over the past few weeks and the rabbitry, which houses these fluffy creatures, is already full and another 17 rabbits are expected.

The SPCA is now making an urgent request for help in finding new homes for them.

"We're already operating at capacity and when this next lot arrives we'll be looking for space in other areas of the village to house them," says feline and small animal team leader Jenna Fowler.

"If you have ever thought of adopting a rabbit, now is the time.

"We've got a rabbit for every family - all shapes, sizes and colours are available."

Ms Fowler says rabbits are social and affectionate animals and great pets especially for older children.

"They are very intelligent animals and can be easily toilet trained and housed inside although you need to watch them with electrical cords and house plants."

Rabbits can breed from as early as four months old and the Auckland SPCA believes that adopting a desexed rabbit is the only way to guarantee they will not breed.

"The SPCA can spend a lot of time and energy raising money to build bigger and more animal shelters," marketing manager Martin Mackenzie says.

"We could try to get more staff and volunteers to look after the animals. We can run great campaigns to find people to adopt the unwanted ones. We can, reluctantly, euthanase more. But the only long-term solution is for people to take the responsibility and get their animals desexed to avoid those unwanted litters."

The Auckland SPCA is at 50 Westney Rd, Mangere, and is open every day from 10am until 4pm.

For more information go to www.spca.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News