$5,000 Reward Offered After Rabbits Targeted with Blow Darts in Washington State

Contact: media@aldf.org

VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the nation’s preeminent legal advocacy organization for animals, is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for recent incidents of rabbits found around Vancouver with blow darts embedded in them. 

“Washington’s animal cruelty laws prohibit the infliction of pain, injury or death on animals, and these recent reports of dead and seriously injured rabbits, left to suffer in these residential neighborhoods, is certainly a crime,” said ALDF Animal Cruelty Investigations Manager Linda Fielder. “We are hopeful that members of the community are able to come forward with information that will lead to justice for these animals and prevent similar actions in the future.” 

Since November, Clark County Animal Protection and Control has responded to 10 reports of injured rabbits in the vicinity of Fourth Plain Blvd. south to Burton Road and Andresen Road east to Northeast 98th Avenue in Vancouver. The agency has also received information that a migratory woodpecker with a blow dart embedded in the abdomen was seen at a feeder in the area. While Clark County Animal Protection and Control officers were able to locate several injured rabbits who were later euthanized due to the extent of their injuries, others evaded capture and may still be in the area. Animal control officers are also finding blow darts in yards.  

“Discharging blow darts in a residential area puts everyone in the community, including children, at risk in addition to the prolonged suffering these rabbits and birds are enduring,” said Clark County Animal Protection and Control Manager William Oglesby. “These incidents are occurring in heavily populated areas and near schools. We are hoping to identify the person or persons responsible before more harm is done in our community. The county is committed to bringing this individual to justice. We urge anyone with information to please contact Clark County Animal Protection and Control at animal@clark.wa.gov or 564-397-2488. If you have any doorbell or other camera video you can share showing someone using a blow dart gun in the area it can be emailed to us.”  

ALDF is currently working with Clark County Animal Protection and Control, as well as law enforcement agencies in Clark County, after the county was chosen to participate in ALDF’s Collaborative Response Project, a year-long grant project that supplies funds, equipment, training, and consultation to entities tasked with enforcing state animal cruelty laws.  

If you have information related to these incidents, please contact Clark County Animal Protection and Control at animal@clark.wa.gov or 564-397-2488. You may include your contact information for follow-up, or leave an anonymous tip. 

For more information on Clark County Animal Protection and Control visit their website.