maherwoman
Well-Known Member
I can't believe I have to report this...
We lost four of our girls this morning. Flower, Trixie, Cuddles, and SweetPea.
To make a long story short, Danny hasn't had work in quite a while, and things blew up financially. We've been living in a motel room, and the buns have had to stay in a good friend's backyard, which we thought was secure. We had built a fence around them, put a tent above them, and tarp around all four sides. They were more than sheltered from any weather (not to mention, we don't really get any weather other than slightly cloudy and sunny), and we thought they were also protected from predators.
We were wrong.
A pack of three or four large (bigger than a German Shepherd, we were told, as our friend and his parents were home at the time and were the ones to chase them away) somehow got into the backyard, and got to the bunnies.
From what we can tell from the scene, here's what happened:
We had the cages stacked, and the dogs had managed to rip open all four bottom cages that held Flower, Trixie, Cuddles, and SweetPea.
The four girls got out, and huddled together in one corner of the yard, but then SweetPea panicked and took off, so she was found in the middle of the yard. There wasn't much blood, and upon close inspection of them, it doesn't appear that anyone of them actually passed from injury or direct violence. There were slight injuries, but none appeared to be fatal. Instead, it appears that they all four had a heart attack and passed quite quickly.
To put it simply, I'm completely devastated. I haven't yet talked to Em to let her know her little bunny's gone (as she's still at school), and Danny's completely heartbroken that his girl is gone. I can't even put into words how I'm feeling. I've been busy taking down cages (as the other four were sitting on very unstable, very broken cages, so we had to immediately break down the bottom cages), and recovering the scene from all the broken and scattered items.
I've checked our other four babies. Maisie, Teddy, and Cinnamon are totally fine, but Fiver's missing a big chunk of fur, so we're going to take him in. Heck, now that I think of it, we're going to take all four in, just in case we missed anything. Needless to say, they're all four going to go back to the motel room with us and live in carriers with us there until we can find a place. I didn't want to have to do that...I wanted them to have their beautiful palaces, but it's just safer to have them with us, as we fully expect the dogs to come back (now that they know they're there). They'd knocked down Maisie's cage, and it was laying on its side, so I really also want to be sure they're all totally available for me to keep an eye on.
Please pray we don't lose anyone else...I just can't handle the thought. I keep telling them to hang in there and not give up. It sounds odd, but I'm so happy I didn't lose all of them.
I know that I cannot quite accurately describe how safe we'd made their environment, particularly because this happened...but all I can do is ask that you remember who I am, and how much I care about them...and the lengths I've gone to for my babies...so to thereby trust that they weren't just out there. Ivan's house is the corner house in the back of a cul-de-sac...a house that's surrounded on all sides, and out-of-the-way, and until now was completely and totally safe from such things. These dogs have not been seen in the neighborhood before, so it's a complete fluke that they somehow made their way over to Ivan's house and into his backyard. In fact, Ivan told me that of all the things, he never expected he would have to worry about something like that happening. There just aren't stray dogs around, so they don't know where they came from, but they acted like a wild pack. Ivan and his family is trying to figure out what to do to protect their home, as they have a couple indoor/outdoor kitties that they now have to figure out how to protect from these vicious dogs.
Please pray for my babies. Please pray for us. Please pray for me to have the right words to talk to Em about this...and to tell Denise that we lost her beautiful girl. I can't tell you how angry, and completely responsible, and devasted I feel. My girls didn't deserve to die that way...and I hope and pray that this is the end of our loss.
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.
Edited to add a couple more details:
Upon talking to Ivan further about things, and given the state the cages we were in, short of having an electric fence around the buns, we couldn't have protected them from what happened. We didn't have anywhere else for the buns to stay (we don't have friends with garages, or anything like that, so Ivan was it as far as options), so this was a last resort. We'd done everything we could imagine to protect them (even down to using clasps on the cage that would even have been raccoon-proof, and fine tough cage mesh that would've prevented the sticking-in of curious animal paws).
The cage panels had actually been bent open, breaking the zip ties and busting through the tough cage mesh that surrounded all four cages. These dogs were amazingly strong, and were large enough to jump any fence. We really don't see any way we could have further protected them. I would take and share pictures of the state of their cages, so you could see what I mean...but I just don't want any reminders further down the line of this devastation.
So, on that note...please be gentle with your words. I've lost half of my babies today, and don't think I could take it if anyone decided to rip into me about something I couldn't have prevented or known would happen.
Edited to add the thread links to our other two losses:
Rosie's Teeny has gone to the Bridge...
My Velveteen is gone
We lost four of our girls this morning. Flower, Trixie, Cuddles, and SweetPea.
To make a long story short, Danny hasn't had work in quite a while, and things blew up financially. We've been living in a motel room, and the buns have had to stay in a good friend's backyard, which we thought was secure. We had built a fence around them, put a tent above them, and tarp around all four sides. They were more than sheltered from any weather (not to mention, we don't really get any weather other than slightly cloudy and sunny), and we thought they were also protected from predators.
We were wrong.
A pack of three or four large (bigger than a German Shepherd, we were told, as our friend and his parents were home at the time and were the ones to chase them away) somehow got into the backyard, and got to the bunnies.
From what we can tell from the scene, here's what happened:
We had the cages stacked, and the dogs had managed to rip open all four bottom cages that held Flower, Trixie, Cuddles, and SweetPea.
The four girls got out, and huddled together in one corner of the yard, but then SweetPea panicked and took off, so she was found in the middle of the yard. There wasn't much blood, and upon close inspection of them, it doesn't appear that anyone of them actually passed from injury or direct violence. There were slight injuries, but none appeared to be fatal. Instead, it appears that they all four had a heart attack and passed quite quickly.
To put it simply, I'm completely devastated. I haven't yet talked to Em to let her know her little bunny's gone (as she's still at school), and Danny's completely heartbroken that his girl is gone. I can't even put into words how I'm feeling. I've been busy taking down cages (as the other four were sitting on very unstable, very broken cages, so we had to immediately break down the bottom cages), and recovering the scene from all the broken and scattered items.
I've checked our other four babies. Maisie, Teddy, and Cinnamon are totally fine, but Fiver's missing a big chunk of fur, so we're going to take him in. Heck, now that I think of it, we're going to take all four in, just in case we missed anything. Needless to say, they're all four going to go back to the motel room with us and live in carriers with us there until we can find a place. I didn't want to have to do that...I wanted them to have their beautiful palaces, but it's just safer to have them with us, as we fully expect the dogs to come back (now that they know they're there). They'd knocked down Maisie's cage, and it was laying on its side, so I really also want to be sure they're all totally available for me to keep an eye on.
Please pray we don't lose anyone else...I just can't handle the thought. I keep telling them to hang in there and not give up. It sounds odd, but I'm so happy I didn't lose all of them.
I know that I cannot quite accurately describe how safe we'd made their environment, particularly because this happened...but all I can do is ask that you remember who I am, and how much I care about them...and the lengths I've gone to for my babies...so to thereby trust that they weren't just out there. Ivan's house is the corner house in the back of a cul-de-sac...a house that's surrounded on all sides, and out-of-the-way, and until now was completely and totally safe from such things. These dogs have not been seen in the neighborhood before, so it's a complete fluke that they somehow made their way over to Ivan's house and into his backyard. In fact, Ivan told me that of all the things, he never expected he would have to worry about something like that happening. There just aren't stray dogs around, so they don't know where they came from, but they acted like a wild pack. Ivan and his family is trying to figure out what to do to protect their home, as they have a couple indoor/outdoor kitties that they now have to figure out how to protect from these vicious dogs.
Please pray for my babies. Please pray for us. Please pray for me to have the right words to talk to Em about this...and to tell Denise that we lost her beautiful girl. I can't tell you how angry, and completely responsible, and devasted I feel. My girls didn't deserve to die that way...and I hope and pray that this is the end of our loss.
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.
Edited to add a couple more details:
Upon talking to Ivan further about things, and given the state the cages we were in, short of having an electric fence around the buns, we couldn't have protected them from what happened. We didn't have anywhere else for the buns to stay (we don't have friends with garages, or anything like that, so Ivan was it as far as options), so this was a last resort. We'd done everything we could imagine to protect them (even down to using clasps on the cage that would even have been raccoon-proof, and fine tough cage mesh that would've prevented the sticking-in of curious animal paws).
The cage panels had actually been bent open, breaking the zip ties and busting through the tough cage mesh that surrounded all four cages. These dogs were amazingly strong, and were large enough to jump any fence. We really don't see any way we could have further protected them. I would take and share pictures of the state of their cages, so you could see what I mean...but I just don't want any reminders further down the line of this devastation.
So, on that note...please be gentle with your words. I've lost half of my babies today, and don't think I could take it if anyone decided to rip into me about something I couldn't have prevented or known would happen.
Edited to add the thread links to our other two losses:
Rosie's Teeny has gone to the Bridge...
My Velveteen is gone
ink iris:
