A tale of bunnynapping on Galveston Island had a happy ending Monday, when two whiskered Galveston residents were returned to the rabbit sanctuary/bed and breakfast they call home.
Two men whisked the bunnies, Gee Gee and Muffin, from the yard of the Victorian Inn at 2 a.m. on July 14. After news of the theft ran in Saturday’s Galveston Daily News, several other outlets, including the Houston Chronicle and the New York Daily News picked up on the story.
On Monday, a story about the missing rabbits ran on the 6 o’clock news on KPRC News 2 Houston, complete with video footage of the bunnynappers. By 6:21 p.m., innkeeper Marcy Hanson received a call from the two men who had taken the rabbits, who, after the newscast aired, wanted to return them.
“The men that stole the rabbits didn’t realize what hot properties they were or that there was jailtime involved,” Hanson told the TM Daily Post.
Gee Gee and Muffin were unharmed but shaken by the ordeal. “They ran down their bunny burrows and they haven’t come back up,” Hanson said.
Hanson herself is a bunny, of the Playboy variety. The October 1978 Playmate of the Month has clippings from her earlier career hanging on the walls throughout her bed and breakfast.
Hanson said she does not plan to pursue charges unless the men have prior convictions for burglary or theft.
The bunny sanctuary is well loved by the island community, Hanson said. “A lot of people were really, really upset that two men would bring darkness into such a peaceful area,” she said. Security at the sanctuary will be beefed up in the wake of the thefts.
