Appeal to find two rabbits recently stolen from their homes

Date published: 23 October 2019

The owners of two rabbits stolen in the past week are appealing for the public’s help to trace them, whilst raising awareness and warning other pet owners of the recent thefts in Milnrow and Castleton.

At 3.00am in the early hours of Sunday morning (20 October), a thief jumped over Natalie Clegg’s garden wall in Windsor Terrace, Milnrow before crawling on all fours into her outhouse, where her two rescue rabbits were sleeping.

Arthur, a dark brown and black rabbit with distinctive markings on his side, was stolen from the outhouse, leaving his ‘bunny wife’ Olive, and their owner Natalie, devastated.

Natalie said: “Arthur is a rescue rabbit and his partner misses him terribly. The two have been a pair from the beginning, so have always been together as a couple.

“Rabbits bond for life, sleeping, eating, grooming and playing together. I’m worried about them suffering from anxiety and getting terrible depression whilst they are apart.

“I rescued Arthur and Olive from RSPCA Altrincham in July, where they were in rescue for over a year. They were mistreated at their previous home and had settled in with me really well, but now this has happened.

“Arthur is microchipped, and the police have registered him as stolen.”

As Arthur was rescued, he does not like being handled or picked up.

Natalie added: “We thought Arthur had just escaped initially, so me and my dad were out looking for him in the streets. But then, we found that his fleece sleeping bag, which we have to keep them warm, was also missing."

In a hopeful bid to re-unite the bonded pair, Natalie is offering £100 to anyone that can help with Arthur’s safe return.

Arthur is thought to be aged around two-years-old and is a large crossbreed rabbit. He has lighter distinctive markings of fur on his stomach.

3-year-old male rabbit Fudge was more recently stolen from her home in the Partington Street area of Castleton.

The light brown and white rabbit was taken around the same time as Arthur, at 3.30am but on Wednesday morning (23 October).

His owner, Caitlin Fay, said: “The thief is male, looked middle-aged and was wearing a white jacket with a large black stripe around the bottom.

“He must have known where Fudge was because he came straight through the gate at the house like he knew where he was going.

“You can’t have anything at all. I want him home."