A hare-y situation has thrown the Big Apple\u2019s infamous \u201cfake heiress\u201d Anna Delvey back in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
The scammer-turned-model got ripped by animal lovers after several rabbits she used in a glamorous photoshoot were found dumped in Prospect Park last week.<\/strong><\/p>\n Activists quickly drew the link to Delvey, who had posted photos from the downtown Manhattan shoot at around the same time as the rescues, with the caption \u201cour bunny daycare is open.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese animals were left in a park to die right after this photoshoot. Living things are not your photo props,\u201d artist Alison Kuo commented under Delvey\u2019s Instagram post.<\/p>\n Delvey claims she was totally oblivious,\u00a0telling Page Six<\/a>\u00a0on Monday: \u201cI do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals. I would never condone these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n Animal lovers are slamming Anna Delvey after several rabbits used for her glamorous downtown Manhattan social media photoshoot were found dumped in Prospect Park.<\/p>\n But the same can\u2019t be said for Christian Batty, a 19-year-old assistant on the photoshoot, who wrote in a statement on social media that he \u201cpanicked\u201d when he realized he\u2019d be responsible for the floppy-eared \u201cprops.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked,\u201d he wrote in the hare-brained confession, which Delvey shared on her own Instagram account Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cAt 19, with no experience caring for animals \u2026 and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice,\u201d Batty wrote. \u201cBelieving, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them [in Prospect Park], thinking that was my best option. That belief was wrong, and I regret it deeply.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Three of the abandoned bunnies\u00a0were picked up by\u00a0animal rescuer Terry Chao<\/a>,\u00a0who told The Post\u00a0that she and\u00a0two neighbors, Jenna Goins and Jennifer Babcock, had rescued Parker, a harlequin lop, on August 4 and Moon, also a harlequin, three days later\u00a0with the help of roommates. The free-roaming bunnies were brought to the group\u2019s attention by a series of community Facebook posts spotting the domestic pets in Prospect Park.<\/p>\n Rescuers caught wind of the stunt after the familiar-looking floppy-eared props were rescued from the Brooklyn park on Aug. 4 and 7, respectively. Instagram\/veganchao<\/p>\n Chao said she was notified about Delvey\u2019s photoshoot on Saturday \u2014\u00a0and was already familiar with it because Batty had initially reached out to\u00a0her to see if she would lend the team her own Instagram-famous rabbit.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rescuer then realized the trio in the pics were identical to the rescued bunnies she and her neighbors speculated had just come from a \u201cmass dumping\u201d in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI realized that in [Delvey\u2019s] post that she was holding Parker\u2026 My stomach just dropped because I saw a third bunny in the photos, along with Moon and Parker,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Batty originally offered Chao $100 to use her rabbit for the photoshoot, but after a series of miscommunications and missed replies, Delvey\u2019s assistant found another rabbit to use.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Anon posts calling out Christian & Anna started appearing on the NYC Rabbits group & Reddit piecing the evidence together. It was undeniable these were the exact same bunnies from her shoot,\u201d Chao wrote in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pressure worked & a confession was issued,\u201d she said, adding that Batty went to Prospect Park with her to help rescue a third missing bunny, a gray fur-ball who has since been named Joaquin, after the actor.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw [Batty] had posted, I was like, this is the same person who was trying to scout my money,\u201d Chao said.<\/p>\n Terry Chao helped rescue the three rabbits, which Batty acquired from a Yonkers woman on Facebook. Instagram\/veganchao<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I could have prevented it, but some part of me wonders if I had gone to the shoot, if I could have prevented it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The trio\u00a0of cotton-tails\u00a0had been obtained by Batty \u2014 a friend of Delvey\u2019s hairstylist on set \u2014 from a Yonkers woman looking to surrender her leporine models on a local Facebook group, rescuers said.<\/p>\n A fourth rabbit, Benito, was borrowed from its owner, who wrote on Instagram that they \u201chappened to see Anna Delvey\u2019s story\u00a0<\/a>that she needed a bunny for a photoshoot and thought it would be nice for him to meet other rabbits.\u201d<\/p>\n The owner said they were told the other bunnies in the shoot \u201calso came from a loving home.\u201d<\/p>\n Batty said the faux heiress was \u201cnot involved in anything beyond the photoshoot and did not realize the situation until today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI lied to Anna, and the rest of the team about the rabbits,\u201d Batty\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n Despite Batty\u2019s apology, Chao said he and Delvey deserve to be held accountable.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Christian has apologized, but I mean, absolutely, they need to be responsible for throwing perfectly healthy, innocent domestic animals into the park like trash after using them as props,\u201d Chao said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Goins, who helped rescue the bunnies, also alleged that Delvey\u2019s crew had mistreated the cuddly creatures before they were released.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if Anna doesn\u2019t want to take responsibility for knowing anything about the rabbits, she still put them on leashes,\u201d Goins said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that photo where she had the bunny upside down, that\u2019s not an appropriate thing to do to a bunny. [It] puts them in a very shocked and fearful state that can be deathly to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Delvey, real name Anna Sorokin, once\u00a0tried to scam her way to the top of New York\u2019s social scene<\/a>\u00a0and was convicted in 2022 of scamming banks and businesses out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cBelieving, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them [in Prospect Park], thinking that was my best option,\u201d Batty wrote. \u201cThat belief was wrong, and I regret it deeply.\u201d\u00a0 Instagram\/Anna Delvey<\/p>\n The real-life inspiration for the\u00a0Netflix series \u201cInventing Anna<\/a>\u201d now touts 1.1 million Instagram followers \u2013 and regularly poses with her ankle monitor since she was released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody\u00a0while she fights being deported\u00a0<\/a>to Germany.<\/p>\n Delvey has since promised Chao she will donate to a rabbit rescue \u2013 despite accusing her of libel in a series of Instagram DMs for posting about the bunny saga.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil yesterday afternoon, I had every reason to believe the rabbits from our shoot had been safely returned to our owners, you might want to verify the facts before, publicly attacking people,\u201d Delvey said, according to messages reviewed by The Post.<\/p>\n Kathy Nizzari, of animal advocacy group Lights Out Coalition, told The Post that rabbit dumping in Prospect Park is \u201cfairly common\u201d \u2013 despite the offense carrying a punishment of up to one year in prison and\/or a fine of up to $1,000, if convicted.<\/p>\n Animal rescue sources familiar with dumping at Prospect Park estimated at least six rabbits unrelated to the Delvey photo shoot were found last week alone.<\/p>\n \u201cThis happens way too often \u2014 usually by pet owners \u2014 but it never occurred to me a photographer would do such a thing,\u201d said Mary Beth Artz, a local rescuer at the Brooklyn park, \u201calthough it often happens with photographers around Easter time with ducklings and chicks.\u201d<\/p>\n Edita Birnkrant, executive director of animal advocacy group NYCLASS, called on Delvey to \u201cdonate a hefty sum to local rescue groups,\u201d naming the organization They All Want to Live.<\/p>\n Such groups \u201chave to go to extraordinary effort and expense to rescue, vet and rehome animals like this, who are dumped in parks and left to slowly die due to cruel and irresponsible actions of adults who should know better,\u201d Birnkrant said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t