Uproar over Bunny Park — community pulls together for bunnies

Leighton Edward James Pearson, a CBD resident, has shown concern for the animals and created a Whatsapp group aimed at helping the park.

Pearson said the group will meet in front of the park at 2pm.

This comes after it was revealed the animals, especially bunnies at the park, possibly suffer from a lack of hygiene and medical care.

“I’ve been at the Bunny Park several times recently and the things I’ve seen are horrific,” said Pearson.

“We need to form a community group that cleans up the Bunny Park from time to time.”

According to Martine Hampsen, from Ban Animal Trading South Africa, she and Michelle Benade visited the Bunny Park on July 3 to assess the condition of the animals, after which she posted an article and
pictures of the bunnies online.

Among the sights they encountered was a pit with a multitude of dead animals in it.

“We tried to catch those (bunnies) with deformities, to take them to the vet,” said Hampsen.

“We caught five, of which one died and two are still at the vet,” said Benade.

“The other two weren’t too badly hurt, so we freed them.”

Phil Maisela, trainee inspector at Benoni SPCA, told the City Times the situation at the park is not as bad as it is depicted in Hampsen’s article.

Although he previously commented that the breeding and feeding of the bunnies is not up to scratch, he concluded that, after his latest weekly inspection of the park, on July 14, things aren’t as horrific as the article suggests.

“We went there this morning, but didn’t find a lot of sick bunnies,” he said.

“We caught a few sick bunnies and guinea pigs, but spent much time looking for them.”

After being put up on Facebook, the initial City Times article regarding the Bunny Park was met with many comments from the public.

•  Andy D’Arcy Mossop: “Really don’t need a bunny park at all (sic).”
•  Zanele Mokatula: “Start charging an entrance fee. People take better care and appreciate things more when they have to pay for them…this will also assist management on the upkeep of the place. I would love to keep it around, my kids love the place (sic).”
•  Cheryl Ellis: “Tlc and a vet…why must everything be done away with…create employment Ekhurhuleni…really now (sic).”

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