One fuzzy friend got a second chance thanks to a group of locals.

Charles Xavier, a paralyzed young rabbit named after the comic book leader of the X-Men, was rescued from the Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center on May 20.

Jaye Moore, director of the center, found the bunny at the center’s doorstep in a cardboard box.

Brandon Montoya, co-director of the North Olympic Rabbit Rescue, said the bunny was full of life but dragging its back two legs due to an injury and it’s likely the bunny had its back broken somehow and was dumped off for food at the center.

Moore contacted Montoya and Kristina Rice of the rabbit rescue which contacted Greywolf Veterinary Hospital who examined the bunny at no charge, Montoya said.

Doctors diagnosed the bunny with a fractured spinal cord.

“He’ll be paralyzed the rest of his life and have lessened control of his bladder and no control of his back legs,” Montoya said.

The rabbit rescue, which successfully helped Howard the Duck in Carrie Blake Park last summer after he was shot with a blow dart in the neck, worked with Tiami Coleberg, executive director of Rescue Every Dog, to transfer the bunny on May 24 to Special Bunny, a Seattle area organization that fosters bunnies for adoption.

Angie Green, founder of Special Bunny, said the bunny is not for adoption right now but she’d love to find someone special to adopt him even though he will continue to have medical needs.

He is taking pain medication that seem to help, she said, and that his injury likely came from someone picking him up wrong. She’s investigating options for a custom wheelchair.

The North Olympic Rabbit Rescue, based in Sequim, started about 1½ years ago but Montoya said they’ve been rescuing rabbits for more than two years.

“There wasn’t a dedicated rabbit rescue, so we felt it was needed,” Montoya said.

“If there’s immediate space, we take it in. If we still can’t find space, we try. We’re a group of volunteers who do it all out of our homes.”

The rescue helps and adopts out local rabbits for dedicated owners.

Montoya said Charles Xavier is an example that all life is important.

“They are intelligent creatures and can feel lonely and pain,” he said. “This particular animal is young and active. You can tell it wanted to live.”

For more information on the North Olympic Rabbit Rescue, visit Olympicrabbit.org.

For more information on Special Bunny, visit its Facebook under specialbunnyrescue.