Where is Fluffy rabbit?

Carys Lesley was left in tears when her mother, Jenny, told her the dustmen had found four-month-old Fluffy after she escaped from their back garden in Athelstan Road, Tarring, and gave her away.

Jenny said: "They had no right to just take the rabbit away from the area it was found in and just give it to the first person who expressed an interest. Carys was devastated when we told her."

The drama unfolded the week before last, while

Jenny, Carys, her sister, Emma, 12, and brothers Kieran, nine, and Fergus, one, were on holiday in Spain. Their father, Raymond, had stayed at home because of work commitments.

On the Friday morning, the day the dustmen call into Athelstan Road, Raymond went into the back garden to discover the roof of Fluffy's hutch had become dislodged and she had vanished. The family's other rabbit, Thumper, and guinea pigs, were safe and sound.

Jenny said: "My husband asked a couple of neighbours if they had seen Fluffy.

"When I got back a few days later, we did house-to-house enquiries and telephoned the RSPCA and Worthing and District Animal Rescue Service (WADARS), but nobody had heard anything about Fluffy.

"I have friends down the road and I asked them if they had seen Fluffy."

One of their sons said he had seen the dustmen trying to catch her. When Jenny contacted Worthing Council, she was told the rabbit, which had white fur, had been found, but the dustmen had decided to give it away because it had become too hot in their cab to keep the rabbit in there.

"Why didn't they just hand her in to the vets or an animal rescue centre?"

She added: "The council told me they had contacted Fluffy's new owner, but she told them her daughter had fallen in love with her and they had bought a hutch. The next day, I was told this woman had said she didn't have the rabbit anymore."

Jenny said the council had offered to buy Carys a new rabbit, but she just wanted Fluffy back. Jenny hopes this story will prick the conscience of the rabbit's new owner so she will be given back.

Paul Kempsall, of Worthing Council, said: "The crew put the rabbit in their cab and went to Sompting, where they dump the refuse. They asked a lady who works there if she wanted the rabbit and she said yes. But it now turns out she has passed the rabbit on.

"We have not got a policy regarding rabbits, but what has happened will make us give it some thought.

It should be made clear to the crew that if they find something they should report it to me in the office.

"I think the crew acted in a humane manner by picking up the rabbit in the first place, so I think they acted quite properly.

"What we don't want to do is make it so onerous if a crew see an escaped rabbit on their rounds they just drive past.

"We are perfectly happy to replace the rabbit."