Dozens of rabbits are saved in a remarkable rescue from one Portsmouth property

Vanessa Taylor with her friends and fellow members of South Coast Rabbit Rescue based in Paulsgrove, Portsmouth, Hampshire saved 22 rabbits from a single property earlier this week - this has now risen to 28 due to six newborns overnight! Vanessa now has 51 rabbits either abandoned or lost in her possession and has run out of space to take any more Picture: Malcolm Wells (180727-8942) | jpress

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RABBITS who were in desperate need of a rescue have been saved by a non-profit Portsmouth group.

South Coast Rabbit Rescue saved 22 rabbits from one property in Portsmouth late last week – a number which soon rose to 28 after some unexpected births.

Now, Vanessa Taylor is looking to nurse them all back to full health, as well as find new homes for them all.

Vanessa says that she has never had so many rabbits at her home at once – but with other people contacting her about rabbits that need help, she is struggling to find anymore room.

She said: ‘We had 22 that we knew had been abandoned.

‘It’s difficult because you don’t quite know where to start with so many rabbits.

‘When you find these animals that have been abandoned they’re really scared because they are being put into a hot car and don’t know what is happening to them.’

According to Vanessa, these rabbits were all living in the same hutch, which is not only what led to the additional births, but also means that one of the rabbits was badly injured.

Vanessa said: ‘I’ve opened up my garden to them because it’s important for them to have some space to run around in again.

‘Some of the rabbits have struck out at others in the confined space, so some of them are are hurt and one of them has a lot of injuries.

‘But knowing that they are now all in a safe place is the most important thing to me.’

Having taken in so many abandoned rabbits, on top of those that were already being looked after, South Coast Rabbit Rescue is currently completely full.

Vanessa says that homes need to be found for the rabbits that she currently houses before more can be taken in – but her phone is always going off with calls about other rabbits that need saving.

She said: ‘At this point, we are pretty much completely full – we have more than 50 rabbits here at the moment and more than we have ever had in the past.

‘We can only realistically take so many rabbits. This summer we will probably be looking after about 75 different rabbits, whereas normally it’s around 60.

‘We have to have enough space for each of the rabbits, but even when we don’t people will still be getting in touch about more bunnies that need re-homing, so it’s a very difficult situation.

‘It really was quite an extreme rescue and it should never come to that – I don’t know why people take on so many rabbits if they can’t look after them, or don’t look for help when things start to become difficult in terms of numbers.’

Vanessa is now appealing for anyone who is looking for a new pet to come forward and give a few bunnies their perfect ‘forever home’.

To help out go to facebook.com/scrrportsmouth