GOWANUS — The rabbit owner who's facing trial on animal abuse charges has endangered more bunnies by leaving them outside during the weekend's record-setting cold snap, animal advocates say.
Rabbits that belong to accused animal abuser Dorota Trec were spotted outside this past weekend as authorities warned New Yorkers to stay indoors to avoid bone-chilling temperatures, said Joyce Friedman, NYC coordinator with The Humane Society of the United States.
"If it’s too cold for you, it’s probably too cold for your pet too, so keep your animals inside this weekend,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday as he warned of wind chills as low as 25 degrees below zero.
Friedman said the rabbits were facing "life-threatening animal cruelty" and that outdoor plywood hutches Trec has built for her rabbits "are not adequate shelters for these species in these temperatures."
Friedman said "a clearly freezing white rabbit" was seen outside Saturday night at 11:40 p.m.
Police responded to a 911 call about the rabbits over the weekend, and officers found that the rabbits had food, shelter and water, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Animal welfare advocates are sounding the alarm about rabbits spotted outside on Third Avenue and Ninth Street during the Feb. 13-14, 2016 cold snap in New York.
Police notified the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about the situation. An ASPCA spokeswoman was not available to comment Monday.
On Monday morning as a light snow fell, a black rabbit could be seen outside the shelter where Trec keeps the bunnies. Trec was there too, working on her rabbits' shelters with tools.
Trec told DNAinfo the people complaining about the way she treats her rabbits are "ignorant" and insisted that her animals are healthy. She noted that rabbits thrive in cold regions such as Greenland and Siberia.
"They are very happy," she said of her animals. "They love the snow."
The new complaints against Trec came as the ASPCA was working to find new homes for dozens of rabbits that Trec once kept behind a tire shop on Third Avenue and Ninth Street.
As Trec tended to a new flock of bunnies on Monday, the ASPCA was hosting an animal adoption event for some of her former pets in Manhattan.
Police seized dozens of Trec's rabbits in January 2015 when they were left outside as a blizzard took aim at the city. After vets examined the animals and found that many were injured and sick — some even had syphilis — authorities removed dozens more of Trec's pets.
The rabbits have been nursed back to health and the ASPCA has hosted several adoption events to find them new owners. Trec said the adoptions are "illegal" and said she was filing court papers to get them nullified.
Two of the dozens of rabbits that once belonged to Dorota Trec. The animals were put up for adoption.
Trec was arrested on animal cruelty charges in 2015 and is due to face trial next month. She has acquired several new rabbits. She told DNAinfo New York on Monday that she intends to get more and breed them.
Friedman said animal welfare advocates are "very concerned" that Trec has new animals.
"There should clearly be a ruling barring her from having any animals presently, and when she is found to have animals again left outside in life threatening conditions, the law should be used to protect those vulnerable animals," Friedman said.
