Empty cage bugged us ...then we saw bunny

SPLASH with Colin White and his son Lee

A rabbit dumped and left to drown was been saved by keen-eyed passers-by.

Karen and Colin White, from Shaw, had gone for a stroll up to Bushes Clough on Friday, when they noticed a dirty metal animal cage dumped in a car park.

Thinking it had just been fly-tipped, they thought no more about it and carried on up the road.

But a nagging feeling made them go back as the container had been open. After a while of searching the pair, members of the Friends of Crompton Moor group, spotted a drenched small grey and black rabbit cowering in a culvert.

Colin said: “I saw him under some brambles, lying down in two inches of water.

“He looked forlorn — like he’d given up. I’ve no idea how long he’d been there. I managed to climb down and get him out. He didn’t even flinch.

“It’s just cruel — he’s a domestic rabbit.

“There are enough animal charities out there that would have taken a rabbit in and given him a proper home.”

The pair have named him Splash, after his exploits in the water, and a hutch was donated by Susan and Richard Johnson from the Friends group.

Marion Herod, secretary for Friends of Crompton Moor, said: “This rabbit was just left to die by some low-life who just couldn’t be bothered to do the right thing.

“Hopefully that person seeing this story in print might realise the stupidity and cruelty of their actions.”