POP star LEONA LEWIS shelled out $100 to save a rabbit from ending up as a tramp's dinner - and took it home as her new pet.
The vegetarian X Factor winner, 24, was out shopping in Los Angeles when she spotted a homeless man sitting with a white bunny on a lead. When shocked Leona asked the man what he was planning to do with the animal, he replied: "Don't know - probably eat it."
The Bleeding Love singer asked the tramp to sell her the rabbit to spare its life. The man asked for $20 but generous Leona gave him the hundred-dollar bill - worth £61 - and told him to spend it on food. Leona then took her new pet back to her home in the Hollywood Hills - and named it Melrose after the street where she found it.
A pal revealed yesterday: "Leona is the proud owner of a new white rabbit called Melrose which she is keeping in her garden.
"She was shopping on Melrose Avenue last week when she spotted it being kept on a lead by a homeless man.
"She didn't think life on a lead was any way for a rabbit to live - then when he said he was going to eat it she knew she had to save it.
"Now it has the run of her garden without the fear of being cooked for dinner."
Leona - in LA to finish off her follow-up to record-breaking debut album Spirit - is a huge animal rights supporter. Last year she turned down a £1million offer from Harrods to open their summer sale because the swanky store sold fur.
As well as Melrose, the star also has a rottweiler dog named Rome at her London home, and adopted a horse last year which she keeps in stables in LA.
