Rabbit sparks bomb scare at major airport
An abandoned bag in the women’s toilets at Adelaide Airport sparked a major security scare on Wednesday night.
But when Australian Federal Police called the bomb squad in to investigate, what they found inside the bag was not what they were expecting.
Inside the pink Lorna Jane bag was a male rabbit in a red harness, unharmed but with no note to say where it was from or why it was there.
The RSPCA was called in to take the rabbit into care and investigate its dumping.
“This is the first job of this kind that I’ve come across in my 26 years of service with RSPCA,” Rescue Officer Nalika Van Loenen said.
“The young male rabbit is clearly very well socialised and cared for. He is even harness trained.
“The police had put him in a large box and gotten some carrots from Subway, so he had some fresh shredded carrot to munch on while they waited for me to arrive.”
The AFP’s acting state manager, Commander Brett McCann, described the unexpected find as “unusual.”
“We treat everything in the aviation space very seriously, but our bomb appraisal officers certainly weren’t expecting to find a rabbit in unattended baggage,” he said.
“Thankfully the rabbit is safe and well, and hopefully the owner will be found.”
RSPCA South Australia is now appealing for information from anyone who may know how the dwarf rabbit, which is about one year old, came to be dumped at the airport.
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“A couple of scenarios came to mind – his owner could have been leaving the country and knew by leaving their pet in a populated area he would be found and cared for,” Rescue Officer Van Loenen said.
“Or they may have been planning on smuggling him on board a plane, but backed out at the last minute.”
Under South Australia’s Animal Welfare Act, it is illegal to dump an animal.
“Rabbits are prey animals so they do get scared and stressed easily. He would have been very frightened,” Rescue Officer Van Loenen said.
“The humane decision would have been to take the rabbit to an animal shelter during opening hours, where there are people who have the knowledge and capacity to take good care of them.”
Anyone with information is urged to call RSPCA South Australia’s 24-hour cruelty report hotline on 1300 4 777 22.
