This poor family

[BinkyBunny]

That is nonsense as not all animals are created equal, as they say at Chik-Fil-A: eat mo' chicken. There is a reason that calling someone a birdbrain is an insult.

Kill and eat a chimp or a dolphin and the Feds will put you in prison. Just a few miles from here a coupla' weeks ago there were multiple felony arrests for killing horses for meat. Sell any article in Florida made with cat hair and you get to go to jail. Dog and cat owners here in the US simply would not permit the raising of dogs and cats for meat even though they are eaten in other cultures. Rabbits are intelligent, trainable and emotionally complex animals and deserve the same legal protections that dolphins, chimps, horses, dogs and cats have. I have never had a dog that was as smart and as trainable as my buns.

Birds can be wildly intelligent. I had an african grey that was much like a toddler. He has made the remark 'bird brain' a compliment. Google 'Alex and Irene.'

 

[BunBuns Human]

Birds can be wildly intelligent. I had an african grey that was much like a toddler. He has made the remark 'bird brain' a compliment. Google 'Alex and Irene.'

Sure parrots, like corvids, can be quite smart, unlike chickens and turkeys; but then millions of parrots or corvids are not raised and killed each year for meat as are rabbits. Also a number of parrots have legal protections that rabbits do not.

And, like rabbits, parrots are highly social animals and can become quite demented, pulling out all of their feathers and becoming biters, without adequate social interactions. I wouldn't recommend raising parrots for meat either.

 

[mochajoe]

As many have stated before me, we don't know all the facts...so it is very difficult to make a fair call either way...does it sound a little crazy no matter how you look at it or what possible scenarios you create YES....most definitely YES!!!! My very wise mommy, God rest her soul, always said in "he said she said" .... "The truth is somewhere in the middle" I will say, that I think that USDA, makes some decisions and pass some laws without completely thinking through all the ramifications of their actions, including a recent law they passed that is going to SIGNIFICANTLY impact horse owners, like me, and horse people who cross state lines to trail ride and show. My mother's family runs a 5th generation dairy farm in Ohio, so I am certainly NOT saying the USDA is all bad....they are NOT. Again, we don't know all the facts and we probably never will!

 

[Deetzy]

It is completely unfair to say that meat rabbits are automatically abused. I am aware of some extremely humane operations. Unless you are a vegan, I don't really feel you have room to talk here, as all meat comes from animals albeit different species. If you are a vegan, try not to judge other people for not believing the way you do.

Thank you for saying this Binky! I know I'm coming in late on this thread, but I couldn't resist saying something. Honestly I was pretty offended by that comment that was made earlier. I am not one for eating rabbits myself, personally I liken it to eating a dog or a cat. But my father is from a country where eating rabbits is fairly normal. In fact, over there they would consider us the weird ones for keeping them as pets. My cousin raises a few meat rabbits, and though I disagree with it I certainly wouldn't consider then evil or inhumane. They just eat some weird things. Think of the matter from another perspective, followers of Hinduism think it's wrong to eat beef. I myself don't eat it, but lots of people eat it without thinking anything of it. I've never once heard any of my Hindu friends call my beef-eating friends evil. They just agree to disagree and still show some respect for one another. Now there's some food for thought! (No pun intended!)

 

[Hyatt101]

Thank you for saying this Binky! I know I'm coming in late on this thread, but I couldn't resist saying something. Honestly I was pretty offended by that comment that was made earlier. I am not one for eating rabbits myself, personally I liken it to eating a dog or a cat. But my father is from a country where eating rabbits is fairly normal. In fact, over there they would consider us the weird ones for keeping them as pets. My cousin raises a few meat rabbits, and though I disagree with it I certainly wouldn't consider then evil or inhumane. They just eat some weird things. Think of the matter from another perspective, followers of Hinduism think it's wrong to eat beef. I myself don't eat it, but lots of people eat it without thinking anything of it. I've never once heard any of my Hindu friends call my beef-eating friends evil. They just agree to disagree and still show some respect for one another. Now there's some food for thought! (No pun intended!)

This is a good point, thinking about it from another perspective. We just need to accept each others opinions

 

[missyscove]

I am going to close this thread until it can be further reviewed as the discussion seems to have strayed from what sort of licensing this family may have needed and whether they broke any laws (which may pertain to some of our own members) to a debate on the consumption of rabbits as food animals which is not the purpose of this forum.