A Calvert County woman is facing thirteen counts of animal cruelty as a result of the execution of a search and seizure warrant Aug. 8 on her property in Lusby. According to documents on file in District Court of Maryland for Calvert County, Carol B. Vanwie was charged Aug. 20.
Vanwie’s property on Tongue Cove Drive is home to a rabbit sanctuary operating under the name Bunny Magic.
Calvert County Animal Control Unit Officer Craig Dichter stated in court documents that he was contacted in late July by Dan Paden a researcher in the Investigations Department of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) regarding a complaint the organization received concerning Vanwie’s sanctuary. “The complaint was about 400 rabbits that were being housed inhumanely on the property,” Dichter stated. According to court documents, a PETA investigator “worked undercover at the residence for a period of 10 days.” The investigator, identified in court documents as Kerin Rosen, provided authorities with notes, a DVD with video footage and a CD with photographic images.
After discussing the findings with the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office, members of Calvert Investigative executed a search warrant obtained from a District Court judge.
Police, assisted by a licensed veterinarian, seized 222 rabbits during the raid and subsequently impounded. There were 40 rabbits left on site.
In a petition for return of impounded animals filed in District Court, Vanwie’s attorney, Robert H. Harvey Jr. stated that his client “has all applicable federal and state licenses to permit her to care for sick, injured or orphaned rabbits.” The petition also stated that 42 of the rabbits seized were Vanwie’s “personal pets” and were not part of the refuge.
In an Aug. 20 opposition filed against Vanwie’s petition, Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Saunders stated the rabbits seized had been found “kept in crowded cages in their own feces, there is evidence the rabbits seized were denied proper veterinary care, eight of the rabbits seized had to be put down the night the warrant was executed, one rabbit was found dead on arrival [and] seven more rabbits have died since being seized and several more are closely watched due to their ongoing health problems.”
Saunders also stated in the response that “some of the rabbits were in crowded cages, underweight, suffered respiratory infections, had twisted necks, overgrown nails and one rabbit had a facial abscess.”
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