The rabbit lady of Gowanus opened the gate onto a lunar landscape of gray dirt and holes. Rabbits of every possible size and color hopped and groomed and basked in the sun.

“As you can see, we have many babies,” the woman, Dorota Trec, said as a little black fluff ball bounded by. “All of them were born in the tunnels, in the caves, but now some of them are out front. That is good for people to see.”

It was early afternoon — not an active time for rabbits — on a recent Thursday, and Ms. Trec apologized that most were in their burrows.

“I will get more of them to come out,” she said. She fetched a bag of timothy hay and sang out “zajaczka,” the Polish word for bunny. (It sounded like “zye-YONNNCH-ka!”) Several more rabbits appeared from various directions.