Courtesy: Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
PLANT CITY, Fla. - More than 20 abandoned bunnies were rescued from the Nature's Preserve County Park in Plant City Wednesday morning.
Plant City rabbit rescue
What we know:
The Humane Society of Tampa Bay said workers at the park off of Knights Griffin Road rounded up 22 rabbits before Hillsborough County Animal Control brought them to the shelter.
Courtesy: Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
Shelter officials said the rabbits were in "rough shape," saying they were severely dehydrated, underweight, missing fur and covered in their own urine. The Humane Society does suspect they came from a breeding or hoarding situation before they were discovered at the county park.
Officials said the coloring of the rabbits makes them easy targets for predators, and they lack instincts to survive in the wild.
Courtesy: Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
Humane Society animal care
What they're saying:
"These rabbits are not wild animals, they are domesticated pets who were left to fend for themselves in an environment where they had little chance of survival," officials with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay said in a social media post.
Courtesy: Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
Now that the rabbits are safe, the shelter said they will give them medical care, spay and neuter them and find them loving homes once they are healthy.
What we don't know:
It wasn't immediately clear who abandoned the rabbits or when they could be put up for adoption at the shelter.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, who shared details about the rescue in a social media post.