Reply #11: Erm...Did you take a close look at the article?

[BreweryYardRat]

It sounds like the kid's rabbit might have just gotten loose once, but that "once" was the worst possible time.

Here, I'll quote it:
Jim Mankin made a mistake a couple of years ago. He bought two rabbits.

As a former city council member, Mankin knows owners are supposed to keep rabbits penned. But with 20 or more, that's not easy. The rabbits dig, and they roam.

Then a few days before Mother's Day, Billie Jean Lehman chased down two rabbits, cornered them and dispatched them.

One of the dead bunnies didn't belong to the former councilman. Mufasa was a special lionhead bunny that belonged to 4-year-old Cohen Andersen, who lives down the street.

Cohen Andersen's mother says a mistake led to Mufasa getting loose, but he didn't deserve the death penalty.