I had a lady who had heard from a friend of a friend that hubby and I take in rabbits...which we don't, but anyway...my doorbell rang one day and when I answered this lady shoved this beautiful little black and white holland at me saying..."My kids won't take care of her anymore and I don't want her...here."
She literaly just turned and walked back down the driveway to get in her van and leave! I had to chase her down the driveway to find out how old she was, etc...
The funny thing was they didn't bother to spay her and she developed cancer...so she had a very short life in our care. But she was one of the cleverest bunns! She was litter trained within a day...she was uber friendly...honestly...you don't find a better behaved rabbit. So if they couldn't be happy with her...there was no rabbit in the world that would have done for them!
We just took in another Easter dump bunny in October. When we called the Humane Society...they asked us to hold onto him as they had already picked up 6 rabbits abandoned outdoors! In one week! So those are the ones they found. How many never had someone to find them and turn them in?
And it is always around the fall when they get dumped...that is just enough time for them to mature and to begin spraying and digging, etc...and to annoy their "owners". Southern Ontario is not a good place for a domestic bunn to spend time outdoors. There was another small gray bunn running free around here...but none of the neighbours I know managed to catch it. I really hope one of the other people on the other side of the street had better luck. I had everyone keeping an eye out for him.
You can tell people that they can't release bunns to the "wild". And you'd like to believe that they think they are dloing good for the bunn because they think he'll be better off...but in reality they are doing what is best for themselves. I know most Humane Societies charge a fee for dropping off animals..ours charges $50 for cats anyway. So why pay money when you can just drop them off?
We know a lady who decided to set her Bassett hound "free".:X
Yeah I'm sure he'll have no problem chasing down a deer for dinner with those legs...
I try not to preach to rabbit people I meet...but when I talk to them about rabbits one of the things I cover is that the domestics we have here for breeding and sale are originally from European stock...completely unrelated to cottontails. The difference between a rabbit able to survive in the wild and one doomed to an unpleasant death. The average survival rate for a domestic set free is about two days.
I would dearly love to lose my temper sometimes...but if you do thats when people stop listening...and you have to keep them listening to change their perspective.
So I talk...about care...about training...about behavior...
and if I know they did set their rabbit free...I make darned sure there is a heaping amount of guilt in there too.
So when you meet people...even if they don't have rabbits...talk. Keep talking!
Word of mouth is powerful. You never know...maybe what you say will make a difference for even just one bunn someday. Maybe what you say will change the way someone looks at and cares for their bunn.
When I find adds like that sometimes I will contact them and tell them who I am and offer them info on rabbit care and behavior.
Sometimes they are just frustrated and a bit of direction helps...other times they want nothing to do with me!:biggrin:
I know everyone around here thinks I am the crazy rabbit lady...but that's OK...thats how I can tell those are thepeopleI've already talked to...:biggrin:
Danielle
