Bunny living at Toronto subway station rescued from tracks

A pet bunny, with parts of its fur dyed pink, was rescued from the tracks at a subway station in downtown Toronto last week.

The rabbit was spotted at the Rosedale subway station on March 8, but Lousi Mokhtarians, one of Rabbit Rescue Inc.’s volunteers, told CTV News Toronto the rabbit had been living in the station for a while.

“Apparently the bunny was there around two weeks, from someone who saw the bunny while walking there. The same bunny with the pink dye on her back, so I think that she was originally dumped around the area and made her way into the tracks,” she said.

An image of the pink dye found in Rosedale's fur. (@blancobun/Instagram)

Mokhtarians, who has rescued several rabbits in Toronto, said this rabbit survived for as long as it did because she is smart and knew when to hide.

“She was dodging the trains every second. She knew where to hide, but she was very scared,” she said. “She knew exactly when the trains were coming. She would just go under [to] an area where she couldn’t be hit by the trains.”

Haviva Porter, the executive director of Rabbit Rescue Inc., said the bunny is “really lucky” she wasn’t killed. “Miracle, actually,” she added.

While the rescue team couldn’t find her at the station on March 8, another video that was sent to Mokhtarians the next day revealed her hiding spot.

“So, me and two other volunteers went down and saw the bunny on the tracks. It was just running around there,” she said.

Since they couldn’t go on the tracks themselves, track workers were called down to help, and they came about an hour later.

“We had eyes on the bunny, so we knew where it was hiding,” Mokhtarians said. “So, we just told them, ‘Okay, the bunny’s in here.’”

The rabbit was hiding in a hole under the subway tracks, Mokhtarians said, and after bits of banana were laid out, she immediately came out.

“They love bananas,” she said, adding she gave a net to one of the track workers who caught the bunny. “He just took my net, then caught the bunny. He was very fast and very successful. We put her in a carrier and now I have her with me now, so she’s going to be here until she’s adopted by someone hopefully.”

Stuart Green, a spokesperson for the TTC, confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the track maintenance crew had rescued the rabbit from the tracks at around 8:30 p.m. last Thursday, and that service was not impacted.

Rosedale, the bunny’s nickname, has been “very friendly” since she was brought into her care, Mokhtarians said.

“We’re getting her spayed, vaccinated, she’s fortunately in really good health,” Porter said. After Rosedale gets her vaccinations, she will be up for adoption, though applications to adopt her can already be made.

How Rosedale ended up on the subway tracks is unknown to both Porter and Mokhtarians, though they speculate the rabbit was either a kid’s pet or was used for an elaborate gender reveal party.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know, but it’s a possibility [..] I don’t know why else anyone would spray paint the bunny,” Porter said.

An image of Rosedale, the bunny rabbit rescued from the tracks of Rosedale subway station. (@blancobun/Instagram)

‘DON’T BUY A BUNNY FOR EASTER’

Since Easter is coming up next month, both Porter and Mokhtarians noted there’s often a surge of dumped bunnies around the holiday.

“Don’t buy a bunny for Easter,” Porter said.

“We offer sponsorship certificates for people who want to do something bunny-related [for the holiday], you can sponsor a bunny and get a personalized certificate with a story and photo of a bunny that you’re helping. [Or] buy a chocolate rabbit, stuffed bunny, don’t buy a child a 10-year commitment – some animals are not suitable for a young child anyway.”

Porter also stressed the dangers of using rabbits for Easter photo shoots.

“They often get injured, or they are dumped outside after, and we’re hoping that people will not support that this year,” Porter said.

For those who are thinking of having a rabbit as a pet, Porter recommends adopting from a shelter or rescue, or consider trying fostering them first to see if it’s the right pet for you.