Rats abandoned at temple in Japan find new home

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Rats abandoned at temple in Japan find new home

Two rabbits abandoned at a temple in Otsu have found a new home, OTSU - Two rabbits were apparently abandoned in mid-January.

The rabbits, each about 35 centimeters long, are believed to have been pets, as they did not run away when approached by the monk who found them in the parking lot of the Saikyoji Temple.

The temple decided to care for the couple while looking for a forever home. The monks bought a cage in a secondhand shop and fed them in turns. The rabbits were allowed to freely hop around the temple.

The temple was flooded with offers to adopt rabbits when a story about the rabbits appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun in February. Many people sent food for the couple.

The temple eventually decided to give the rabbits to Rokuha Koen park in nearby Kusatsu in Shiga Prefecture because the park was the first to offer to adopt the animals and has experience in caring for rabbits. The park had eight rabbits at one point but has only had one for the past two years.

The hutch will be lively for the first time in a long time, a park employee said on March 1 when the rabbits were handed over. Our visitors will be happy to meet them. The monks are relieved to have found a home for the rabbits.

If the former owner of the rabbits abandoned them here thinking that a temple will take care of it, they should take a long hard look at themselves and what they did, said Ryoju Maesaka, the monk who found the rabbits.