A pet owner who dumped an emaciated and filthy rabbit by the side of a road in its hutch was branded cruel and neglectful last night.

The body of the frail creature was discovered in its own faeces in the cage by a mother walking her 11-year-old son to school along Vesey Street, Devonshire, yesterday morning.

It was not clear whether the black-and-white bunny died before or after it was abandoned but its living conditions were described by Beaman Smith, inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), as “absolutely disgusting”.

“We want to shame whoever did this,” he said. “This rabbit is in a terrible, terrible condition.

“He seems thin. He doesn’t seem like he’s been eating too well; his hip bones are prominent.

“I don’t think he was very well looked after. He’s quite bony and he’s very, very dirty. It’s absolutely not acceptable to keep an animal like that.”

The woman, 51, who spotted the hutch said she was appalled at what she found. “I took my son to school and went down to investigate.

“I looked inside and saw this beautiful black and white large rabbit lying in a mound of its own faeces with fresh cabbage leaves and an empty water bowl. It was dead but clearly it was newly dead. There were no flies on it and no smell.”

She said the location of the hutch, some ten feet from the road, suggested it had been carried there and placed carefully in an upright position.

“We have passed lots of horrible things dumped along here but this must be the worst,” she said. “I’m so outraged about it. It’s cruel. I just hope that someone sees their own rabbit in the paper and realises they did the wrong thing. Why not take it to the vet and have it euthanised if it really is beyond you to look after it?”

Mr. Smith said: “We want to urge people to call the SPCA if they can’t look after a pet. Call us immediately and we will give advice. Even if you feel that the animal is sick and you can’t afford it, call the SPCA. You can surrender it to us and we can take over. You don’t do this.”

The giant rabbit was taken to Endsmeet Animal Hospital in Devonshire yesterday to see if vets there could establish a cause of death.

P.c. Yvonne Ricca, animal protection officer for Bermuda Police Service, said she would investigate if it was suspected that the animal was alive when it was dumped.

Its owner could face a year in prison or a $1,000 fine or both if convicted of animal cruelty. If the creature was dead, the owner could be charged with littering.

“You can’t just abandon an animal in a cage,” said P.c. Ricca. “It’s going to be hard to prove as I don’t know when it was dumped. But if it was alive and it was thrown to the side of the road and just left there then I would investigate it and ask for witnesses.

“It could have died of old age but surely that’s not the correct way to do it. Most people that have pets usually bury them in the yard or call someone to get it taken away. They don’t do this - it’s not nice at all.”

Mr. Smith said Keep Bermuda Beautiful had volunteered to remove the hutch and other rubbish, including a mattress, ditched along Vesey Street.

Anyone with information about the rabbit’s owner should call the SPCA on 236-7333.