Brooklyn was captivated by the story of the Gowanus rabbits, a warren of bunnies living in an abandoned lot near a tire shop that were described by their caretaker as “angry, hardened city rabbits and possibly carnivorous.” The story got a little less cute when the police and animal welfare workers seized a bunch of the rabbits to during Monday’s blizzard to make sure they didn’t die of exposure, and now things have gotten even less cute because it turns out a bunch of the rabbits were full of rabbit syphilis. Man, this story about about hundreds of rabbits living in an empty lot near a Superfund site got real dark real fast.
DNA Info reports that after vets tested the rabbits and found syphilis running rampant, the city came back to seize 100 more rabbits. It wasn’t made clear if the seizure was to protect the rabbits or to reduce the chances of rabbit syphilis being spread to the human population, but we guess better safe than sorry in either case.
Sadly, after practicing free love and celebrating going back to nature like the hippies who came before them, the Gowanus rabbit warren is having their own dark reckoning of the soul after the crest of their high and beautiful wave has broken and rolled back.
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Treponematosis (Vent Disease, Rabbit Syphilis)
Treponematosis is a venereal disease of rabbits caused by Treponema bacteria. It occurs in both sexes and is transmitted through sexual intercourse and from the doe to her offspring. Although it is closely related to the organism that causes human syphilis, the bacteria is not transmissible to other domestic animals or humans.
ANIMAL CRUELTY CHARGES ARE IN ORDER.