THESE two rabbits are lucky to be alive after they were dumped in a cardboard box outside the gates of the St Francis Animal Welfare Shelter at Fair Oak.

Staff were amazed that the rabbits, since named Cocoa and Pye, did not break loose and run on to a dangerous stretch of road.

A shelter spokesperson said: "Rabbits are great escapologists. They are big rabbits and it would not have taken much for them to have broken out of the box."

Shelter staff are shocked that the rabbits could have been dumped in such a callous manner.

The following day five gerbils were also abandoned.

They had been put in old confectionery tubs and left outside the gates of the shelter in Mortimers Lane.

One of gerbils escaped from the container but it was rescued before it ran into the road. It was a very windy day and one of the tubs, with two gerbils inside, started rolling down the road.

Now the two rabbits and five gerbils are being looked after at the shelter, which over the years has become a sanctuary for hundreds of homeless animals.

The shelter is pleading with the public not to abandon animals at the gates but to bring them inside where they can be looked after.

Blue Cross regional manager Steve Broomfield has appealed for pet owners to be more thoughtful. He said: "Abandoning them in a box at the gates is the easy way out. If people cannot look after the animals they should be honest and say so rather than just abandoning them."

Mr Broomfield said in the middle of the winter domestic rabbits and gerbils stand very little chance of survival.

He said: "There are also a large amount of predators out there and the St Francis Shelter is near a golf course where there are foxes, badgers, owls and bird of prey.

"An animal as small as a gerbil is going to get very frightened and not survive very long."

He said that animal welfare charities needed to know the history of animals to help find them find suitable new homes.

Anyone who can provide home for Cocoa and Pye and five gerbils should ring the shelter on 023 8069 3282.