Las Vegas Overrun with Bunnies

In Las Vegas, it's illegal to abandon a pet. But people do it anyway, just not at a shelter. People who have abandoned pet rabbits by just setting them free have sparked a takeover that might remind one of the movie Night of the Lepus.  

The yards, parks and lots of Vegas are home to thousands of feral rabbits. Known as “bunny dump sites” to the legions of volunteers that care for their residents, they’re strange places, more tragic than adorable, where the human heart clashes with the limited resources of the state. Released by overwhelmed pet-owners and left to breed, the rabbits now overwhelm any attempt at government control, digging up public property, chewing on pipes, and ending up dead in the sewers. To survive, they depend entirely on the kindness of self-identified “bunny-lovers”—volunteers faced with an impossible task.

People feed the abandoned bunnies, but that leads to more bunnies. Local shelters are trying to "trap, neuter, and release" the rabbits, but have limited funds, and that's technically illegal anyway because of the abandonment regulation. Read about the bunny infestation in Las Vegas at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Dave Schweiger)