Photo: CREDIT: COURTESY OF STEPHANIE GAL'LINO
Dozens of domestic bunnies residing in a Florida neighborhood are living up to their reputation by breeding like, well, rabbits — so fast that they have started overrunning the area and are popping up "everywhere."
The wave of rabbits started in November when an unknown individual released three unwanted pet bunnies in the Azalea Park area near downtown Orlando. Then nature took over, according to Sue Chairvolotti, the adoption coordinator at Orlando Rabbit Care and Adoptions.
"They dug their way out of the backyard, and the rest is history," she tells PEOPLE.
There are now about 50 rabbits of varying breeds — Chinchillas, Havanas, English spots, ruby-eyed whites — nibbling on grass and procreating throughout the Azalea Park area, Chairvolotti says.
A rabbit can produce 1-14 babies every 30 days or so and can get pregnant again the day she gives birth. According to Dana Krempels — a senior lecturer at the University of Miami's Biology department — just a single pair of rabbits can spawn almost 4 million offspring in four years.
At Azalea Park, the numbers are starting to add up. "When you're first coming down the block, you'll see little ears coming out of the grass," says Stephanie Gal'lino, one of the rescue group's volunteers.
"They're in yards, under sheds, next to cars, running down the street," Gal'lino tells PEOPLE. "They're everywhere you look."
The ever-growing group of rabbits is domestic and not wild, so they don't know how to fend for themselves and are falling victim to lice, ear mites, botflies, teeth overgrowth, and the danger of getting run over by cars, Chairvolotti says.
The rescue group, which is already overcapacity, is now pleading with the community to take in the rabbits as fosters until they can be treated and adopted.
Help is needed quickly, and en masse, she says.
Here is the full story from PEOPLE magazine.