"It was painfully depressing," said Heather Bechtel, executive director of the Rabbit Haven, a nonprofit rabbit-rescue organization in Scotts Valley.

Watsonville animal control rescued the rabbits in June. The Rabbit Haven and its sister organization, House Rabbit Society, are working to shut down sites like these, but they struggle with what to do with the overflow of bunnies.

Due in part to the Watsonville rescue and similar rescues in Salinas and Scotts Valley, along with more owners turning over their pets, Bay Area animal shelters are running out of space for a growing number of misplaced rabbits.

"This is the worst year we've ever had in terms of the numbers at our shelters," Bechtel said. "Our shelters are all full. They have no place to put the rabbits, so they have to euthanize them."

The spring and summer months are traditionally busy months for animal shelters, said Laura Fulda, Humane Society Silicon Valley communications director, but this year has seen even greater numbers than usual. Between April and July, some 276 bunnies have found their way into the Humane Society, a 31 percent increase from 2003.

Part of the problem is simply that owners get tired of their pets.

"Around Easter time is when you start to see a lot of rabbits come into shelters," Fulda explained. "People get a cute little bunny for the kids and a few months later get tired of it."

Another problem is the backyard breeding.

"People are selling rabbits to make a buck," Bechtel said. "Rabbits can have a litter every 28 days, and breeders do a lot of back-to-back breeding to make the most profit. The animals are often kept in unhealthy conditions, and breeders are literally killing them by breeding like that," Bechtel said.

When the Watsonville rabbits were rescued, the shelter had to house 53 bunnies in a space only big enough for three. Other local shelters have similar stories. While the Haven did take in some of the rabbits, it too faces overcrowding. Bechtel estimates they currently have 60 rabbits in the haven system.

One temporary solution is fosters—individuals and families who take in rabbits until they can be adopted out. Pet-store owner Anita Ledtje has been fostering a mother and her seven babies.

Ledtje tries not to keep animals in her shop, "but in this case, it was us or death," she said.

Other foster sites are in Campbell, Santa Clara and San Jose.

Leslie Bulbuk and Marta Donayre, who own two rabbits of their own, took in a mother and her eight babies, all but two of which have been adopted. But the mother turned out to be pregnant again. The couple took the mother and brand new babies to the Rabbit Haven for care. The Rabbit Haven works with fosters to show rabbits every Saturday at an adoption fair at PETsMART in Santa Cruz.

"The fosters house the rabbits during the week, and on the weekend we show the rabbits" to potential adopters, Bechtel explained.

For information about rabbit adoption or fostering, visit www.therabbithaven.org or www.hssv.org. PETsMART is located at 490 River St. in Santa Cruz.