LONG BEACH, Calif.—The Easter bunnies of Long Beach are multiplying like rabbits.

Hundreds of bunnies—some of them fugitives from Easters past—lounge in the shade and hop alongside students of Long Beach City College, a small, sunny campus south of Los Angeles. They also fight bloody turf wars, burrow deep holes in the lawns, and devour thousands of dollars of landscaping.

"It's...