Easter Kicks Ass!

Easter Bunny Gets Pummeled by Boy at Mall

from Associated Press

BAY CITY, Mich. - The Easter Bunny is hopping mad. Bryan Johnson, who portrays the furry character at the Bay City Mall, says he was pummeled in an unprovoked attack on the job. Police say the attacker was a 12-year-old boy who sat on Johnson's lap the day before the March 18 incident.

Johnson, 18, suffered a bloody nose. He kept his cool during the attack, deeming it inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to fight back. But he's not willing to forgive and forget.

"They (the sheriff's deputies) told me it was up to me, and I feel that the boy should be prosecuted," Johnson told The Bay City Times.

Johnson, meanwhile, is back on the job at the mall, where he had been working as the Easter Bunny for about a week before the attack.

Johnson said his 12-year-old attacker seemed perfectly happy the day before the incident. "Yeah, he came up and said, 'Hi,' and was sitting on my lap and talking," Johnson said. "He seemed OK."

But when he saw Johnson the next day, the boy didn't want to talk.

"He just started hitting," Johnson said.


'Easter Bunny' Arrested for Harassment

from Associated Press

Council Bluffs, Iowa - The bunny trail led to trouble for a mall Easter Bunny who got upset at a co-worker, police said.

Michael J. Desantiago Sr., 36, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Saturday at the Mall of the Bluffs where he had a job dressed as the Easter Bunny. He told officers he became upset when someone threw water and other items at him, police said.

Desantiago left the area, changed clothes and came back to tell a fellow employee he was leaving. The employee told police that Desantiago "got up in her face and started to yell at her."

Desantiago threatened another person if he didn't get out of his way, police said.

He was charged with two counts of harassment.


New York State Teen Arrested for Attack on Easter Bunny

from KXTV

ROTTERDAM, N.Y. - A teenager has been arrested on charges of attacking an Easter Bunny at a mall in upstate New York.

Police in the community of Rotterdam say the 16-year-old jumped the bunny, causing $600 in damage to the bunny's suit. The man inside the suit wasn't hurt. There's no word on the motive for the attack.

The teen is now facing charges of harassment and criminal mischief. He's being held in the Schenectady County Jail without bail.

The Rotterdam Square Mall's marketing director says she thinks "a lot of people will come in and give him hugs, because of everything he's been through."


SoCal City OKs Bunny Kill Days Before Easter

from NBC San Diego

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -- Just days before Easter, the City Council of Mission Viejo has given permission for a gated community in south Orange County to shoot bunny rabbits on sight.

Residents in the 1,900-home Casa del Sol retirement community complained for years that a proliferating population of rabbits have been gnawing on native shrubs and plants and doing their bunny business on lawns.

The old folks wanted an exterminator with a pellet gun to thin out the herd. But the city banned rabbit hunting with pellet guns in 1997, adopting a state Department of Fish and Game regulation that prohibits use of firearms to ward off animals unless crops are threatened.

Casa del Sol residents were forced to rely on the poison diphacinone to control the bunny population. Then, state officials banned the poison's use in urban areas in 2001.

The shooting will begin once the paperwork is filed.

Meantime, Mission Viejo celebrated its annual Bunny Days family festival Saturday.

Easter Bunny Hunted

from New Zealand Herald

OTAGO, New Zealand - It was more like duck-shooting weather, but the 14th Great Easter Bunny Hunt in Central Otago recorded a 20,000-plus kill.

Shooters left Alexandra on Friday morning and returned on Saturday afternoon in wet, cold weather.