SPCA rescues 46 rabbits from filthy conditions in Newstead home
10 birds and 3 cats also removed
The rabbit was probably once a snowy white bunny.
But on Wednesday afternoon, the animal’s fluffy fur was stained with filth. Its long ears were crusted over, probably the result of countless mite bites.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s urine scalded, too,” said Officer Lindsey Styborski of the SPCA. That’s a condition in which an animal confined in its own urine for a long period of time suffers a burnlike injury.
The rabbit was one of 46 pulled from a dilapidated “hutch” in the yard outside a dangerously cluttered house on Stage Road in Newstead.
One of the rabbits had a broken leg. Two baby rabbits were found dead.
SPCA officers also found three cats, 10 birds — including cockatiels, parakeets and a lovebird — and dirty tanks of fish.
An anonymous caller had tipped off the SPCA on Tuesday about rabbits and other animals living in squalid conditions on the property.
Styborski went later that day to the house on the rural road and knocked on the door. She was immediately concerned when she saw that all of the windows were blocked off and huge piles of junk lay under tarps on the side of the house.
Styborski went around to the sprawling backyard to see if anyone was home and found a filthy two-story shed that served as a rabbit hutch, amid a maze of children’s outdoor equipment, including swings and a trampoline.
Dirty rabbits ranging from newborns to adults, some of them emaciated, were crammed into the hutch. They were standing on an inch-thick layer of tightly compacted fecal matter.
She went back to get a search warrant and returned Wednesday with more officers.
She said she spoke briefly by phone to one of the homeowners Wednesday morning and learned the family was on vacation. Someone was to be taking care of the animals while the family was gone, Styborski said.
SPCA officers removed all of the rabbits and some cats they found roaming around and placed them in cages.
They also forced their way into the house, which they found jampacked with clutter.
Styborski said she had to use narrow pathways that had been made through the clutter to make her way around the house. In a bathroom, she found cages with birds inside. The water containers inside were filled with brown, putrid water.
All of the animals were taken away Wednesday afternoon to the SPCA’s Town of Tonawanda facility, where a team of veterinarians was waiting. The animals were scheduled to be bathed and examined. The fish were left behind.
The homeowners — whose names have not been released because they have not been charged yet — will be charged with a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty, Styborski said.
Styborski said that the SPCA also notified housing authorities and Child Protective Services based on the conditions inside the house. Styborski said she learned that the couple has three children.
“The problem,” said SPCA spokeswoman Gina Browning, “is that there are always so many of these cases. How many more are in the beginning stages?”
Browning said the conditions of the hutch seem to show that the neglect of the animals was “months and months, if not years, in the making.”
She applauded the anonymous tipster for letting the SPCA know. She urged anyone with concerns about an animal’s condition to call the SPCA.
“They don’t have to leave their name or number,” she said. “Just tip us off.”
In the Buffalo area, call 875-7360; in the Southtowns, 549-5300. For after-hours animal rescue emergencies, call 827-1609.
