Anna Delvey broke her silence after being accused of dumping rabbits in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park after using them in a photo shoot.
Delvey, 34, posed in New York City for a photo shoot earlier this month where she was holding two rabbits on a leash. The snaps were taken by photographer Jasper Soloff before a social media user later claimed the animals featured in the photos were similar to rabbits that were found abandoned in Prospect Park.
After receiving backlash, Delvey took to Instagram on Monday, August 11, to explain how her assistant Christian Batty originally told her he knew someone who “could lend us bunnies for a few hours.”
Delvey didn’t ask where Batty acquired multiple rabbits until the scandal.
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“I later discovered that, instead of borrowing animals from a legitimate source like he claimed, he had obtained them via Facebook Marketplace and intended to release them into Prospect Park,” Delvey wrote via her Instagram Story. “[That was] a plan of which I had no knowledge. The idea that someone would compromise the well-being of innocent animals for personal networking opportunities is deeply disturbing to me.”
As “an animal lover,” Delvey was “appalled by what transpired.” Delvey noted she would not be working with animals in future photo shoots.
“I do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals,” she added. “I would never condone these actions.”
Delvey included alleged screenshots of texts between her assistant and the photographer. Batty publicly addressed the drama by issuing an apology for dumping the bunnies.
“When I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked,” Batty wrote via Instagram Story on Sunday, August 10, according to The New York Post. “At 19, with no experience caring for animals … and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice.”
Batty concluded: “Believing, 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.”
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Soloff, meanwhile, issued a statement through his legal team, which read, “This was not Jasper’s photo shoot. Jasper had no knowledge or input as to how the bunnies were obtained or what happened to them after the photo shoot.”
The photographer’s attorney referred to Soloff as “a huge animal lover” who has taken care of “birds, cats, dogs, parakeets, iguanas and has a lovely dog named Tinkerbell.” The three rabbits used in the photo shoot are now in foster care with animal rescuer Terry Chao, while Delvey posted via Instagram that she had donated $1,000 to All About Rabbits Rescue.
Delvey previously made headlines after she was arrested in 2018. Delvey served two years in prison after being convicted on charges of grand larceny, second-degree larceny and theft of services. After paying $10,000 bail, Delvey was released in 2022 and placed on house arrest.
