Animal Services Community Outreach Coordinator Stacy Silva said the center’s staff discovered open, empty cages in the rabbit resort Saturday morning, and they ruled out an escape or animal attack.
“If an animal were to attack, they wouldn’t have opened the cages,” Silva said. “A lot of the cages were up high, and rabbits can’t jump down from that high without injuring themselves. And there were absolutely no rabbits to be found.”
She added that staff recovered evidence in the area indicating human involvement, though she couldn’t specify what the evidence was.
The thief took 10 rabbits but left others untouched. Silva said there didn’t appear to be rhyme or reason behind the thief’s choosing certain rabbits and leaving others behind.
“It does seem totally random,” she said. “Unfortunately we can’t come up with any positive reasons why somebody would steal animals from the shelter. We are extremely fearful for the health and safety of the animals that were taken.”
Some of the stolen animals include years-long shelter residents, such as Frosty, who had been there since 2012. Silva said Frosty’s loss was particularly devastating.
This theft was the first of its kind for the shelter. Silva said a kitten was once stolen off the adoption floor, but the shelter was able to recover it. Otherwise, the animal center has never faced a theft of this magnitude.
“We believe that whoever did this had an idea of what they were doing,” Silva said. “They had possibly come through the shelter earlier on and identified certain things. The area in the back is rather dark during the evening time, and there weren’t any cameras or motion sensor lights that were up. We’re changing those things.”
In addition to increasing security measures, the center has filed a report with the Santa Maria Police Department and is offering a reward for anyone with information as to where the animals might be.
“We don’t think that these rabbits were taken for anything humane,” Silva said. “As a community, we hope that if anybody has information about the whereabouts of these rabbits or who may have committed this crime, they will speak out to the Santa Maria Police Department or to us at the shelter.”
Anyone with such information can contact the shelter at 934-6119, Ext. 6.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2016.