Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail

[July 03, 2009]  PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon woman obsessed with bunnies has been ordered back behind bars after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen rabbits.

Washington County Circuit Judge Gayle Nachtigal ruled Thursday that 47-year-old Miriam Sakewitz violated her probation by having the rabbits. The judge sentenced the woman to 90 days in the county jail.

Police arrested Sakewitz June 16 after she called a maintenance worker to her room in the Portland suburb of Tigard to fix a broken television set. The worker saw and smelled the rabbits, some of them hopping free.

The woman's legal problems began in 2006, when Hillsboro police found more than 150 rabbits in her home and dozens more bunny bodies in freezers. She was arrested on accusations of animal neglect. After pleading no contest, she was placed on five years probation, with one condition being that she stay away from rabbits.

Tigard Police spokesman Jim Wolf said Washington County animal control officers removed eight adult rabbits, five young ones and a dead one from the hotel room in the latest incident.

Washington County probation officer Bob Severe said Sakewitz had undergone a court-ordered mental evaluation but that no treatment was recommended.

[Associated Press]

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