AN ESCAPEE rabbit was spotted hopping around a Pets at Home store at night after managing to sneak out of its enclosure.
A local noticed the furry fugitive sitting beside the door of the Sunderland store two weeks ago at almost 3am in the morning.
Staff at the pet retailer claimed the cheeky grey bunny made its escape due to a broken lock on its hutch.
They arrived back in the morning to find the animal was safe and placed it back into its enclosure – with a new lock.
The woman who discovered the rabbit messaged the store after stumbling across the wandering animal.
She said: “One of your rabbits is out wandering around the shop. Dangerous that.”
A member of staff from the Pets at Home store responded the next day: “We went in and the rabbit is absolutely fine and the lock broke which I can only guess was last night.
“A new lock has been fitted so the cheeky rabbit won’t be coming out again.
“This has been fully investigated so accidents like this won’t happen again. We take this seriously as our animal care is our number one priority.
“We health check all our animals everyday in the morning, midday and before we leave to make sure all our animals are happy and healthy.”
The woman posted a video of her finding the rogue rabbit on TikTok later on that day where it has attracted over 500,000 views and more than 41,000 likes.
Hundreds of people commented on the clip, with some joking that the fluffy mammal was having the time of its life.
One said: “I used to work there and the amount of times I’d turn around and a rabbit had escaped because people didn’t pay attention to locking doors etc.”
Another wrote: “It’s hardly dangerous, it’s just chilling, either jumped or the door wasn’t locked properly.”
A third added: “Why grass him up? It’s an after hours work party!”
A fourth replied: “He’s just doing the closing shift.”
While one person joked: “He’s trying to escape Sunderland leave him alone.”
Speaking today a spokesperson for Pets at Home said: “The safety and welfare of pets in our care is our top priority and we do everything we can to ensure they have a secure environment.
“Unfortunately, on this occasion, one of our rabbits managed to kick open its house door after the bolt lock dropped during the night when the store was closed.
“Thankfully, the adventurous bunny was found safe and well in the early morning by the duty manager who ensured it was taken to our quiet room to relax for a while after its adventures.”
