The future of Bunny Lu Adoptions Inc., a home-based rabbit rescue operation located in an Augusta County residentially zoned neighborhood just outside of Waynesboro, remains very much in doubt after the non-profit lost an appeal last Thursday before the Board of Zoning Appeals.
The fate of the operation is now in the hands of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, which has asked county planners to bring solutions back to the board that could resolve the issue.
Last week’s BZA public hearing was specifically appealing a Feb. 12 letter from Augusta County Zoning Administrator Sandra Bunch to Mary Ellen Whitehouse, who heads up Bunny Lu Adoptions. The letter stated that the rabbit rescue was in violation of two ordinances, one because of outside storage of rabbit waste and one for operating a “rescue and sales facility.”
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Bunch’s letter gave Whitehouse two choices: 1. “Remove the rabbit waste from this site and cease the operation of rabbit sales and boarding within thirty (30) days” or 2. Appeal the decision to the BZA.
Whitehouse chose the latter, resulting in last week’s public hearing. While she has removed the rabbit manure compost from her yard, she continues to contend that her home-based rescue does not fit the criteria outlined in the violation letter or the Code of Virginia. In the meantime, public outcry from rabbit lovers and animal welfare groups across the state have rallied behind Whitehouse.
The matter came to the attention of Wayne District Supervisor Scott Seaton, who visited Whitehouse at her Aero Drive residence to observe Bunny Lu Adoptions for himself.
Afterward he asked the supervisors to explore options to remedy the situation, resulting in that county board unanimously asking staff to bring potential solutions back to the board.
At its most recent meeting, the supervisors were adamant that there would be no disciplinary action against Whitehouse and her bunnies while solutions are being explored.
“There will be no action taken against the situation as long as we are in a process of trying to find a solution,” said BOS Chairman Gerald Garber.
Despite the pronouncement by the Board of Supervisors, Whitehouse’s appeal of Bunch’s Feb. 12 letter went forward as scheduled last Thursday at the BZA meeting. In her remarks, Whitehouse remained adamant that the county has repeatedly mischaracterized her nonprofit home-based rabbit rescue organization. She noted that the violation letter charged her with “rabbit sales and boarding,” neither of which happens at Bunny Lu, she said. She rescues abused or abandoned animals, provides them with medical care, spays and neuters them, microchips them and then finds adoptive homes for them. She does admit that she has specialized supplies, such as food, which are available to the new “rabbit parents” for a donation to cover costs but denies conducting a sales operation.
“We do not sell rabbits, as stated in the letter. Our mission is to save animals, particularly those at risk of euthanasia or those with special needs, and find them loving homes,” she said at the public hearing.
She added that her group also does not board rabbits as defined under state code. “We provide not-for-profit bunny sitting services for fewer than five rabbits at a time, most often those adopted from our rescue, while their families are temporarily unable to care for them,” she explained.
“Applying zoning laws meant for commercial operations could undermine animal welfare organizations across the Commonwealth,” added Whitehouse in a written statement.
At the conclusion of the BZA public hearing, after presentations by Bunch, who outlined the county’s timeline of the violation and actions that were taken, as well as statements from Whitehouse and several others from the public including neighbors, the BZA upheld the zoning decision and denied the appeal.
Should Whitehouse continue an appeal of the BZA decision, she would have to take her case to the Augusta County Circuit Court. In the meantime, per directions from the supervisors, no enforcement action against Bunny Lu will take place.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting last month, Chairman Garber noted that in his 30 years of public service he has never had to wrestle with a bunny zoning dilemma, but that the board and staff were working hard on finding a solution.
If that solution involves adding, changing or clarifying language in the county code, the process can be slower and more complicated than it appears on the surface because a word change in one place involves word changes in other places. Ordinance changes are necessarily a slow and deliberate process involving public input, in order to avoid unintended consequences.
Whitehouse has said that she appreciates and puts her hope in the guidance from the supervisors in finding that solution. For Bunny Lu and the hundreds of rabbit supporters who rallied behind Whitehouse’s rescue that would make them very “hoppy” indeed.
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