Wendy was scared and confused in her new surroundings.

She couldn't find food or shelter. She was dehydrated and sick with diseases from the more than 15 ticks that latched onto her skin.

Wendy, a young mini rex rabbit, was alone and slowly dying in the Greenwood Cemetery in O'Hara.

Cvetan, of Penn Hills, got word of a lost domestic rabbit living in the cemetery and went to work to rescue her.

Pet bunnies, said Cvetan, are cute around Easter, but by the time summer comes around, people are ready to ditch their long-eared pets.

However, domestic rabbits are very different from the cottontails native to western Pennsylvania.

"When you take a domestic or pet rabbit and release them in say Greenwood Cemetery, she doesn't have the skills to survive," says Cvetan, who started Pittsburgh House Rabbit to educate people about owning rabbits.

Cvetan says if she hadn't caught Wendy, the rabbit would have died from lack of nourishment or from the parasites attacking her body.

Wendy had to have parts of her thick, jet-black coat of velvety fur shaved to remove the ticks, but Cvetan says Wendy is still a beautiful, young rabbit who is full of personality and just wants to be loved.

"She would live on my lap if I let her," Cvetan says with a laugh.

Cvetan's love of rabbits started seven years ago when she took in a rabbit for a friend.

"I'm a dog person, and I really didn't expect this rabbit to have a lot of intelligence," Cvetan says, "but she taught me that she could be trained."

Cvetan now has two pet rabbits of her own and also fosters rabbits for animal shelters, which are overrun with the animals. In July 2005, she started the Pittsburgh House Rabbit club to educate those who own rabbits or those thinking about owning a rabbit.

The group holds classes and programs throughout the year at Animal Friends, Animal Rescue League and Western Pennsylvania Humane Society.

"I kind of fell into all of this, and it sort of evolved," Cvetan says.

Cvetan says most people's childhood experiences with bunnies is seeing a large, rodent-like animal stuck in a cage in a backyard or basement.

However, rabbits can be trained to use a litter box or do tricks just like a cat or dog. Cvetan says her pet rabbits are free to play about her house and aren't confined to a cage.

"You can train them to do pretty much anything or to not do something," Cvetan says.

Cvetan says she hopes that when Wendy is healthy, she will get a permanent indoor home where she is treated as a family pet.

"There's a lot of houses out there that need bunnies in them."

For more information, visit the Web site atwww.pittsburghhouserabbit.org.