A prominent Los Angeles rabbit rescue is appealing for help Wednesday after the site it uses for critical adoption events was lost in the Eaton Fire.
“We lost our adoption location in Altadena, and have nowhere to meet our adopters this weekend and do a workshop. We had the event scheduled for the 19th,” Bunny World Foundation founder and president Lejla Hadzimuratovic told City News Service on Wednesday.
An all-volunteer, foster-based rescue, BWF relies on weekly adoption events to match rabbits with willing fosters or adopters. The gatherings also provide crucial hands-on training and mentoring for new bunny owners to learn how to properly care for domestic rabbits.
“We fostered out 80 rabbits from those who evacuated. We have 50 more to go,” she added. “We’ve been working every day, and meeting fosters every night. In Torrance on Sunday, I brushed 30 buns before they went to their foster homes in San Diego. We need help to find a space to meet people. … Altadena won’t be available for months. We need help ASAP.”
Hadzimuratovic added that the Altadena resident who normally makes her backyard available for adoption events had to evacuate all her pets due to the Eaton Fire.
“Her diabetic cat died overnight due to stress,” she said.
That homeowner, Kim Hallinger, told CNS she and her husband fled their 101-year-old house on New York Drive on Jan. 7 “as the embers were raining down on us.
Hallinger said the house is still standing but uninhabitable at the moment, though her husband returned to protect the home from further fire damage and looters.
Not just dogs and cats, but tortoises, goats and rabbits have been dropped off at the Pasadena Humane Society while their owners evacuate. Christian Cázares reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
“At this point there’s so much toxic air around the house, and the water’s still toxic. My husband stayed through the fires and saved the house, and he’s staying there now to defend against looters,” she said.
BWF volunteers relieved Hallinger of six bunnies and she lost the one cat, but three other cats were placed at Pasadena Humane Society and her one dog is still with her at a nearby hotel.
She said she plans to resume hosting the BWF adoptions once her home is deemed safe — but that could take months.
Anyone willing to open their home to host a Sunday rabbit adoption was
urged to contact BWF at [email protected].
Hadzimuratovic said BWF has found lodging for 80 bunnies so far from the Altadena fire area, with anywhere from 40 to 70 in extremely temporary situations and in need of fosters, along with some evacuees from the Brentwood area that are being sheltered until they can go back to their homes.
“We also have fosters who are under semi-evacuation orders, it’s touch and go,” she said. “All in all we’re dealing with 300-plus rabbits at the moment.”
A man has a heartwarming reaction after he is reunited with his dog who went missing during the Palisades wildfires.
The foundation is seeking adopters and foster homes for bunnies, and volunteers experienced in grooming and brushing rabbits. Donations are also needed to help with the group’s ongoing vet bill, and can be made online.
Donations of the topical flea treatments Revolution or Advantage also help with bunnies that were exposed to the elements and need to be treated before they are placed in foster homes.
Amid the crisis, Hadzimuratovic said she was grateful to those who reached out to help from across Southern California and beyond. Rabbit Haven in San Francisco mobilized to send supplies, and had a crew drive a truck from San Jose with starter kits for fosters. Special Bunny Rescue in Washington state also helped, and Sherwood Pet Health sent “lots of pellets” for fosters.
Closer to home, Hadzimuratovic said 100 people showed up at a recent BWF event in Torrance from as far as San Diego.
“Lots of fosters met in Silver Lake and drove from Riverside and other areas not affected by fires. I am so overwhelmed. Lots of compassion, lots of charity, lots of goodness came our way,” she said. “Lots of solidarity. The village came together.”
