COLUMBUS — An 11-year-old Columbus girl is turning her love for rabbits into a mission — rescuing abandoned and neglected bunnies and giving them a safe place to call home.
Lette Richardson runs Puppy Jump Sanctuary, which takes in rabbits surrendered by owners or rescued from neglect across the area.
Watch Lette talk about her bunny sanctuary:
It didn't start as a grand plan. Richardson simply wanted a rabbit.
"I didn't even want to have a bunny sanctuary. I just wanted a rabbit," Richardson said Wednesday.
After doing hours of research, she made her case to her family.
"When she wanted her first bunny, she kind of had to talk us into it a little bit. She did a lot of research," her mother, Meghan, said.
That research paid off. Richardson quickly became an expert on rabbit behavior.
"She knows a lot about this facial expression, this jump means this," Meghan said.
Before long, one rabbit turned into 12. Richardson learned that many rabbits are abandoned each year.
"We all learned that during Easter, apparently they get chicks and rabbits. And then once they grow up or they, or the children stop taking care of them, they just dump them outside thinking, hey, they'll be fine," Richardson said.
The sanctuary brings in rabbits from across the area — some surrendered by owners, others rescued from neglect.
"We also take in rabbits where their owners just either can't take care of them, aren't taking good care of them, or just the bunnies aren't thriving," Richardson said.
Richardson is passionate about the animals in her care and frustrated by the circumstances that bring them to her.
"I love rabbits and when they die horrible deaths from disease or stupid people just leaving them outside that don't know what the heck they're doing to the poor things, it just is sad. And it's like, why do people do this?" Richardson said.
To keep the sanctuary running, she spends her free time raising money at youth business fairs, selling handmade arts and crafts.
"We go to those and we just sell arts and crafts. We get donations for the bunny sanctuary," Richardson said.
Every dollar goes directly to the rabbits.
"Getting them food, getting them treats, getting them anything the rabbits need," Richardson said.
"A lot of that has gone to getting everybody's spayed and neutered, vaccinated," Meghan said.
For Meghan, watching her daughter build something meaningful from a childhood wish has been the most rewarding part.
"It's been really great to watch her kind of — her idea and her dream develop," Meghan said.
