Stray rabbit housed for $1,248 at shelter KIRKLAND, Wash., April 8 (UPI) -- Kirkland, Wash., City Council members say $1,248 is too much to put a stray rabbit in an county animal shelter shared by 26 area municipalities. The King County animal shelter in Kent charged the city of Kirkland the amount to bring the rabbit and another $2,496 to house two escaped guinea pigs, the Seattle Times reported. That's in addition to the $379 charged for each time an animal-control officer responds to a call. The city council said that even though those costs are offset by pet-license feels and county credit, the bill is too high. "They put them in the Four Seasons over in Seattle," one council member said. "It's more expensive than the jails," said another. Kirkland calculated the cost by divided the shelter bill by the number of animals sent there. Diane Carlson, the county's regional initiatives director said the cost-per-animal figures are misleading because the cities aren't billed separately for each animal admission. They're not paying $1,000 per animal. They're paying the net cost," she said.