Animals are tucked away in every corner of the Animal Care and Control facility in midtown Anchorage. There are roosters in the dog kennels and fish tanks in a back hallway. More roosters are with the bunnies, and more bunnies fill a converted classroom.
On Jan. 22, the city seized 103 bunnies, 36 hens and roosters, two cats and nine fish from a home in South Anchorage. They’re now being cared for at the facility, along with the regular assortment of animals. In all, the shelter is housing 240 animals in a space meant for about 150.
Logan Robinson, deputy shelter manager, said it’s been tough finding a place for all those rabbits.
“It can be tricky to have them with louder animals like chickens and roosters,” he said. “That's really one of the biggest factors to housing of bunnies. But obviously” – he paused, interrupted by the crowing rooster nearby – “we have to work with what we have.”
The lack of space is stretching resources and straining staff. There isn’t room to take in other animals in need. And the animals that are there, aren’t getting enough love and attention, officials said.
It’s an unusual situation, Municipal Manager Becky Windt-Pearson said, but these are the things local governments have to tackle.
“You don't know you need someone to deal with 103 bunnies until you need someone to deal with 103 bunnies,” she said. “Quite often, that's some part of your municipal government that's going to have a solution to that.”
Anchorage police and animal care officers seized the animals from a man near Little Rabbit Creek. Charging documents show the residence had been the site of an ongoing animal welfare issue, and described animals covered in feces, in cages outdoors and rabbits roaming free indoors. The Municipality of Anchorage charged Imre Manyoky with animal neglect. Documents show he has not posted bail, and his next court appearance is in April.
Officials said the animals are doing fine. They’re now in the city’s protective custody until the case is resolved. It’s a kind of limbo with strict rules, like no photographs with identifying features, no names, or even numbers. They can’t be adopted until the neglect case is over.
Often the defendant relinquishes custody, Windt-Pearson said, which allows the city to put the animals up for adoption. But that didn’t happen this time, so the municipality is in charge of them until after litigation wraps up. Windt-Pearson doesn’t know how long that will take. In 2024 they kept four horses in protective custody for over a year. But now there’s a fully-staffed prosecutor’s office, she said, so things should move more quickly.
“We're hopeful that we'll be able to get through it in a reasonable amount of time and make a decision about the custody of all these animals,” she said.
Fingers crossed for Easter, she said. It would be a great time to promote bunny adoption. Unfortunately that’s not looking very likely.
In the meantime, the city would love to house the bunnies somewhere else, to free up some space, Windt-Pearson said. But it’s been hard to find a suitable place.
“We don't want a carpeted facility,” she said. “But there's also zoning restrictions.”
The bunnies are taking up a lot of space because each animal has to be kept in its own cage. Tamiah Liebersbach is with the Anchorage Health Department and oversees the animal shelter. Bunnies can be vicious, she said. They were all living together before they were seized, and they had some eye damage and bitten ears as a result. Co-living can be risky.
That co-living might also be the reason there are so many of them, she said.
“Certainly with bunnies, you know, it's a saying for a reason,” she said. “You could have a few bunnies and they could rapidly reproduce to the 103 that we seized.”
In the meantime, the bunnies are racking up an impressive room and board bill.
“That's $3 per rabbit per day,” she said. “So it's minimal. When you think about just one bunny, but when you have 103 bunnies and a bunch of other animals, it adds up very quickly.”
It’ll be about $15,000 a month, Liebersbach estimated. Until recently, the municipality fronted the money and if the defendant was found guilty, they got stuck with the bill. But on March 3, the Anchorage Assembly voted to change that. Now, the defendant may have to pay for their animal’s room and board up front.
If the Manyoky is found guilty, the municipality can put the animals up for adoption. But the complications won’t be over. Liebersbach is worried about the bunnies. They’re not the most desirable pet, she said. They’re a lot of work and not very social. She’s concerned they won’t find 103 forever homes. Besides, she said, Anchorage is already full of feral bunnies.
“You probably could just trap one outside if you wanted a pet bunny,” she said. “If these rabbits become ours, we're really going to have to be creative on how we market their adoption.”
Once they’re out of protective custody, they finally get names. That’ll help, Liebersbach said. But 103 bunny names is a lot to come up with all at once.
But Deputy Shelter Manager Robinson said he’s not worried about that part.
“I do have some staff members who are the animal care technicians that have long lists of names in their phones,” he said.
He said they’re thinking about pet names on a daily basis.
In the meantime, Robinson said, there are lots of ways for people to help – by adopting animals not in protective custody to free up space, fostering those that are, or volunteering at the shelter where 103 bunnies need cuddling.
