Kind Heart comes to the rescue of rascally rabbits
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

Yonatan, one of the male Dutch rabbits Kind Heart Rescue in Upper Freehold saved from unfit living conditions, munches on some grub and awaits adoption at foster care.

UPPER FREEHOLD - A personalized license plate indirectly led to the rescue of nearly three-dozen rabbits from unsuitable living conditions in a Monmouth County shed.

Jody Caizza, the founder of the Cream Ridge-based Kind Heart Rescue of Monmouth/Ocean, which finds new homes for rescued dogs and rabbits, has a license plate that reads "BUNRESQ." Earlier this year, a wildlife rehabilitator who had previously asked about the plate, wound up referring Caizza to a woman having problems with "20 rabbits" in her shed.

None of the bunnies had been spayed or neutered, and they were breeding and fighting in the shed, which was filthy, Caizza said.When she entered the shed, the bunnies "scattered like cockroaches," making it impossible to count them, she added.

On her first visit, Caizza managed to remove eight rabbits from the shed. She had the animals spayed and neutered and found foster homes for them.

The following week, Caizza was able to return to the shed to remove 11 rabbits. She rescued the remaining rabbits a week later and discovered she and the owner had both underestimated the number of bunnies living in the shed, as she removed a total of 33 adults.

During the six days that had elapsed between the time that she removed the first group and the time that she rescued the second group, four litters were born, she said. Caizza refers to the bunnies in those litters as "the window of fate" babies.

"These four litters were in that window of fate - not born in the shed where they soon would perish and not of one of the mothers we rushed to be spayed," she said.

Of the females she took to be spayed, all but two were pregnant, she said.

A rabbit's gestation period is about 28 days, she said, and a total of 26 babies had been born between Feb. 2 and Feb. 8. Caizza said that there would have been more rabbits in that shed, but babies died of exposure and were killed by other rabbits.

"They bred, they fought," she said. "And, as babies were born almost daily, they either died or were killed by others."

T

he bunnies are mixed breeds in a

variety of colors. The 10 adults are now up for adoption. The $75 adoption fee for the adults includes a cage and litter box. The adults have been spayed or neutered.

The babies will be available for adoption for a $50 fee by the end of April. Kind Heart Rescue will help adopters with spaying/neutering procedures for the babies once they are old enough to undergo surgery.

Kind Heart Rescue is also in need of foster homes.

For more information on adopting or fostering a rabbit, e-mail K911Rescue@ aol.com, call (609) 947-4141, or visit www.kindheartrescue.com.