I have visited indoor rabbit organization web sites and have found them to be terribly bias, giving out only information that will bolster their side. They work with rescue organizations and publish information about abused outdoor rabbits, but they do not publish information about successful outdoor rabbit ownership. Information on improving the lives of outdoor rabbits is not given out, except to tell you to bring them inside. Almost no information about abused house pets (I read only one case; it was on hording) are passed on to the public. That is the way I see it. What are your opinions of house rabbit organizations?
I feel that these people and places do a valuable service in that truly needy rabbits under their care at least have home and someone is caring for them. Notice I said \'\'truly needy\'\'. After that, I feel that the people at the top of the organizations are in it only for the money. The people doing the actual care may have good hearts and do care for the rabbits but the top people are in it to keep pushing their propoganda which is mostly anti-breeder. We live in a rural area where there is an auction every 2 months. You can bring anything from horses to pigs to chickens to meat rabbits to puppies ect... You can buy or sell just about anything related to farms and animals at this auction. At every auction, there are the rabbit rescue groups there buying up all the rabbits and within days, they are advertising for help in caring for all these \'\'rescued\'\' rabbits. They need money and help and foster families. Now while I feel that any meat rabbit is just as deserving of a pet home if one is available and someone wants a big rabbit as a pet, these so called \'\'rescued\'\' rabbits did not need to be bought and added to the pet population. The were not raised to be pets and were not meant to be pets. I then went to one of their meetings where they were signing up people for foster families just to see what their criteria was for fostering or adoption. It was rediculous. Only a vegetable diet with minimal pellets, the rabbit could only be kept indoors but only kept in a cage for a short amount of time a day. They needed to be free to roam and act like a rabbit. These people do not have a clue as to how to properly take care of a rabbit. And to adopt a rabbit, once you are approved, the fee was $75 - $100 with the promise that you would spay or neuter within 30 days. You figure they rescue 100 rabbits and then they charge those kind of prices to adopt, they are making some money. Rabbits don\'t eat up that kind of money very quickly. So.....my opinnion on at least this house rabbit society in our area is not very good. They get others to do the work and donate money for the care of the animals, and then they collect a big fat fee at the end for all the rabbits while proclaiming that they only have the rabbit\'s best interest at heart. Yea right. What they are doing takes away from any animals that may truly need rescued from abused or neglected conditions. Just let me say that on the other hand, I do have friends that treat their rabbits better than their dogs and they are thriving on these poorly balanced diets and they have personalities that are way out there so there are some rabbits and families that can make these arrangements work. It would not work for me or my rabbits.
I don`t like them cuz almost all the information they provide is false and they don`t really seem to care about the rabbits even though they say they do cuz if they did they`d provide useful info. imo ARBA is a much better organization and they have brochures and info avialable for both pet owners(people that have their rabbits in the house, they have brochures on how to litter train them and no you can`t feed them only greens) and show breeders.
I agree that house rabbit organizations do a lot of good. The problem that I have with these organizations is that they tell sad story after sad story about outdoor rabbits, appealing to people\'s emotions, not their common sense. I think they work more like a cult than a rescue organization. Members have treated me like an abuser for keeping my rabbits outside, some insist I know nothing, and then they are really out to save my rabbits from a cruel outdoor life. I have invited some of the members to visit my rabbits, and they say they can\'t wait to see my set-up, but they never show up. Because of their tactics, I no longer donate to the shelters where the HRS members volunteer. I am so frustrated with those people.
I would not invite these people to my property to see anything. If your rabbits are outside, they are being mistreated. If they are on wire bottomed cages, they are being mistreated. If you restrict your rabbit\'s diet to keep them in show condition or to prevent obesity, then you better have food in their dish when these people show up or you are starving and mistreating them. There is never a set up good enough to satisfy these people. By inviting them onto your property, you are inviting big problems if they decided to persue you as an abuseful breeder. Most judges and most people in general do not have a clue as to what is good care for rabbits so these organizations show up and present the facts in the most horrible way and people will buy it. Tell a rabbit person that you keep your rabbits on wire floors and you restrict their feed and we think nothing of it. Tell a judge or the general public that someone keeps their rabbits on wire floors and restrict their food and they see abused rabbits with bloody feet and rabbits being starved on top of it. I never let anyone not related to the rabbit world near my rabbit or my facilities. I take the best care of my rabbits. I have a herd that is winning on a national level so they are getting the best of care but just the fact that they are in cages with wire floors would be enough for some of these crazy organizations to declare abuse and want to confiscate them. Stay educated about these people and keep them away from your animals.
Thanks for the warning. I know nothing about raising rabbits. I only have them as pets. My hutch is 8 feet long with 3 levels and an attached run, for 2 rabbits. The front opens up to a garden \"free range\" area and my rabbits have more room than most house rabbits can only dream of. My neighbors think I am nuts because my rabbits are more pampered then most children! If they did drive by my house, they could have gotten a glimps of the shed-like hutch with its picture windows, and it would be enough to embarrass the hell out of them. I really wish the shelters would give out information on how to keep rabbits outside. I have heard many times, \"if you could see what these people are dealing with. . .\" so why don\'t they give out outdoor information? I have heard plenty of cases where people get rabbits as house pets, and when they dig holes in the sofa and chew up the carpet, the rabbits end up outside. I really think the shelter is partly to blame for the problem because they are keeping valuable information from the public. As for what these people see, well, they only deal with responcible house rabbit people and abused rabbits. They don\'t give out information on abused house rabbits, only on abused outdoor rabbits. It all seems like a kind of brain-washing of the members to me.
Most of the shelters in our area are the same way whether it is rabbits or dogs or cats. They do not want the animals outside in the backyard, they want them confined in the house. While I can see their point that too many pets end up living lonely lives in the backyard where they are lucky to see their human caretakers for 10 minutes a day when fed and watered (if they are that lucky), the fact also remains that many animals would prefer a live of leisure in the great outdoors. Where ever you live, the information provided to pet adoptees is only as good as the person who runs that facility and according to whatever their beliefs are. While it may be okay for dogs and cats, rabbits are a whole other deal. That is why it is important for any pet person to do their own research and talk with others more knowledgeable. The shelters have an agenda - to make money and to move animals.
I have to applaud your set up for your rabbits. Sounds like they are living a very charmed existance. I have 2 4\' X 4\' pens in my barn where my rabbits can take turns getting off the wire floor and really letting loose. While 4\' X 4\' may not seem like much, to a dwarf rabbit used to living in much less, it is heaven. Throw in alittle hay and they are happy little buns.
I would think that if the rabbit organizations think that rabbit breeders are keeping their rabbits in an inhumane way, the thing to do would be to work with rabbit breeders in developing new ways to keep rabbits. By attacking rabbit breeders because the breeders ideas differ from theirs, I think the only thing they are proving is that it is more important for them to BE right then to DO what is right, and I question their ethics.
I understand what a sad life an outdoor rabbit can have, but I don\'t think it needs to be that way. Once people gain an awareness of the problem, they usually do better. Look at zoos, for example. They have changed a lot in the last 20 years, but little has changed for the American outdoor rabbit! Why? I think it has a lot to do with the lack of information that is out there.
These organizations do not want to work with breeders of any kind. There are some even more radical groups out there that want to put an end to breeding - all breeding. The only way they would work with you was if you were to tell them that you were wanting to stop breeding and help them spread their agenda to others. In some areas of the country, the humane societies are realistic enough to know that there has to be a happy medium here because no matter what their feelings, there are going to be people and families that are going to want to breed and show anything from hamsters to cattle and everything in between. In other areas of the country, their only agenda is to take over the pet industry and stop the breeders from being able to breed, show, and sell their animals. I now just stay away from all of them because their agenda goes along with whomever is in charge and that can change at any time. While I fully agree with what you are saying and that everyone should come together to establish minimum basic requirements needed for every animal out there, I have also been around long enough to know that for the most part - this isn\'t going to happen.
I know you are right. In many of the Humane Societies, people can\'t even adopt rabbits if they are going to put them outside, and yet they euthanize rabbits because they can\'t find homes for all of them. If you visit some of the other pet rabbit chat sites, you learn what good home can be provided by people who love to keep rabbits outdoors because they love to be outdoors themselves. But better to kill the rescue rabbits then to give them to an outdoor person. So you see, they don\'t like us outdoor lovers either. If you visit the HRS web sit, you can find stories on some poor outdoor rabbit that was killed by a hawk etc. Anything to prove how dangerous it is to let a poor bunny outside. They also have a long list of dangers for indoor rabbits, but no sad stories. Why don\'t they tell us about the rabbits that die from ingesting carpet fibers or the ones that get caught in reclining chairs? I think they owe us some stories. And the members seem to appreciate the diversity amoung the different breeds. Why can\'t they understand such diversity comes from the work of responcible breeders? It amazes me how a group with such tunnel vision has gained such popularity in a country that is built on diversity. And if you talk to one of the members, it is like you have talked to them all because they all use the same words, like they are quoting a bible. \"If you keep your rabbits outside, you can\'t monitor their health because you don\'t interact with them\" or some such nonsense. It is like they have lost their ability to think for themselves.
I know a lot of people like to treat their rabbits as children, and that is why they have them in the house, but that doesn\'t mean house rabbits don\'t get neglected and abused. When it comes to child abuse, most parents don\'t abuse their children in the yard where the neighbors can see, it happens behind closed doors. House rabbit abusers are less likely to get caught so I have a problem with all of the \"facts\" that are given out by these organizations.
If anyone from the HRS or a shelter is reading this, feel free to jump in with your explainations. Inquiring minds want to know.