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Three rabbits are on the run after 17 were dumped in a dyke on Easter Monday.

Members of the public came across the rabbits at Outwell, Norfolk, many of which had escaped from their cages.

They rounded most of them up but three were too agile and ran away.

Two rabbits died in what the RSPCA described as a "heartbreaking" incident, at a time when people "usually celebrate the Easter bunny, not treat them in such a callous way".

Twelve of the rabbits were taken home and looked after by the people who discovered and caught them, before RSPCA officers arrived to transport them to their Peterborough branch.

Four of them were babies, aged between one week and 10 days, but as they were not related to any of the adult females, all have had to be fostered until they are old enough to be rehomed.

RSPCA officer Kathy Hornig said the rabbits had not been well-cared for before being "thrown down a dyke".

There was an "overpowering smell" from their cages and two of the rabbits' teeth had been allowed to grow too long.

She appealed for anyone who "knows of someone who had such a large number of rabbits - and now they don't", to contact the charity.

Praising the passers-by who discovered the rabbits and spent "a large amount of time catching them", she added: "Once again, kind-hearted people are being left to pick up the pieces because of other people's heartless actions".