ICYMI: 2 More Bunnies Found At Gowanus Lair; Hoarder To Be Released March 24

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Volunteers and animal workers found and rescued two more bunnies from the site where hoarder Dorota Trec kept the creatures in unseemly conditions for years.

Tiffanie Fisher, a concerned volunteer who has been a regular presence at the site, sent Patch the above photo of two more bunnies who she said were rescued Tuesday by workers with Animal Care and Control of NYC.

Fisher is one of several volunteers who have been keeping an eye over the site almost daily since the sentencing of Trec, who got 45 days in jail and a five-year moratorium on possessing animals.

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She was found guilty in November of animal cruelty after more than 100 bunnies were found in rancid conditions behind a Gowanus tire shop at the corner of Third Avenue and Ninth Street.

Jail records show she will be off Rikers Island and out of jail on March 24.

Since her sentencing, workers have been at the site rescuing the bunnies and taking them to shelters in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where they've been put up for adoption. It was hard to get an exact count, though, of how many bunnies had been left behind, since they spend most of their time underground during the winter months.

Last Wednesday, March 1, volunteers rescued what could have been the last bunnies at the site, but they thought there may be one more.

That Wednesday night, "the owner of the site went by and lo and behold there was one," Fisher told Patch.

But the bunny remained elusive. Volunteers kept leaving out food, and workers came Tuesday morning, the first warm day in a string of cold ones, when the rabbits would be more likely to be above ground.

They found two instead. She thinks they were part of a litter of six, four of which have already been rescued.

"They kind of hid underground, they were the hardest to find," Fisher told Patch. "These two were in the borough in the back of the building."

Volunteers are still leaving out food in case any more are left. Fisher says there still may be a "ghost rabbit" but believes the rest are off of the property.

Meanwhile, the adoption centers are running a $20 special to ease the burden on what has become overcrowded bunny habitats.

Anyone interested in adoption can check out ACC's website here or download their adoption app here.

Image courtesy Tiffanie Fisher

Editor's note: This story was initially published on Wednesday, March 8