Austin,
Though I do understand your concern and believe that there are casesout there of rescues that are not necessarily doing the best for theanimals or have motives outside of the animal's welfare, I can assureyou that MCRS is not one of those orgs. They're constantly in the holefinancially. The only rabbits adopted are rabbits that are firstprocessed by the state humane societies. We don't take any privatesurrenders. Any rabbits "rescued" by members will not be processedthrough MCRS. We work hand in hand with the county animal control andhuman societies to take on rabbits that have behavioral or healthproblems to make them more adoptable. A healthy, well-behaved rabbithas a better chance of adoption through the city shelters and willnever make it to MCRS, except in extreme cases of overcrowding, likewith this confiscation.
And as for this particular confiscation, I do not know the details of awarrant, but from the sound of the case the owners willingly let theofficers in and did not fight the confiscation. And this was not a caseof slightly dirty cages and people worried because the rabbits weren'tpets. MCRS understands that there are many uses for rabbits and acceptand support breeding of show rabbits and meat rabbits if done humanely.But these rabbits were in danger from the heat, from the stagnant air,and their general upkeep was neglected. This is obvious through thecondition of the animals coats, skin, ears, and eyes. Some had openwounds left to get infected, fur so severely matted that the animalshad to be sedated and shaved, some animals had mites and fleas, acouple of brood does were quite anemic. They certainly weren't in theworst condition possible. So far none of the animals have died, they'remedical conditions are treatable, and they weren't being starved, butthat doesn't mean they were being properly maintained.
I'm sure confiscations occur where the authorities just think a personhas too many animals and decide to step in. Or they disagree with thereasons for keeping so many animals. I certainly think things get outof hand. But in this specific case I feel the city, state, and the MCRSdid the best thing for these rabbits.
