Easter bunny fights father in wild brawl in US mall

The Easter holiday has turned violent for a US family, with punches thrown between an Easter bunny mascot and a father at a New Jersey Mall.

Police spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill told the Jersey Journal the fight began after a one-year-old girl slipped out of the photo chair where she was having her picture taken with the bunny.

The 22-year-old man playing the Easter bunny said he was then attacked verbally and physically by the girl’s father.

Video posted to Twitter by user @2jrb123 on Sunday shows the bunny, missing the top half off his outfit, throwing off his fluffy gloves and fighting a man in a brown shirt.

Other customers are seen throwing punches at the pair as they wrestle each other on the floor.

Both the bunny and the father were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

No charges have yet been laid and a company spokesman for the mall said the bunny had not been suspended but would not work the final week of the Easter promotion.

Bambi character Thumper’s advice seems to have rung true for this bunny though: “If you’re scared, just be scarier than whatever is scaring you.”