We may help with this case. These are stories from a Fox News station in the Chicago area. The rabbits were seized in a town south of Chicago. Many have syphilis, not snuffles as the breeder stated (though he called it sniffles). Some of the video is a little disturbing, but not over the top. KNH, there are gray dwarf bunnies… be careful if you watch it.
Original story: http://tinyurl.com/2xahhq
Followup story: http://tinyurl.com/235byz
My update
We took a posse to help the rabbits at a rural shelter in Illinois. Unlike my visit last time, the turkeys were outside. The goats (the big one was named Elvis) and chickens kept us company.
Several healthy rabbits got to go home with us. Veronica and Roberta (Satins) and Iris (Californian) are below, and Dawn is holding one of the beautiful Flemmies going to Red Door Animal Shelter in Chicago.
Dr. Becker generously donated her time and expertise. All the rabbits were examined, treated for ear mites, and had nail trims. Unfortunately not all the rabbits were in good shape.
There were 16 rabbits at the shelter when we arrived today (I had already taken one on the previous visit). We left with 12, most heading to rescue, but some will be euthanized. The gray dwarf was supposed to have been helped to a better place when I was there three weeks ago, but they never got around to it, declaring he was “happy.” (!) Because of that, we decided it would be in the rabbits’ best interests to take any who were similarly ill and suffering. One rabbit had a bite wound to his penis shaft. Dr. Becker couldn’t tell if urine was coming out where it was supposed to or through the hole in the side. She is going to attempt to surgically repair the injury. Another rabbit had terrible sores on the bottoms of all four paws.
We left behind two minilops and two minirexes, divided into the two large hutches. We hope that the reduced numbers of rabbits (originally nine males in one hutch and seven females in the other) will reduce the fighting, although you can only expect so much from unaltered rabbits in a stressful environment. We left very frustrated by the lack of caring on the shelter’s part–some of this came from our differences in backgrounds/philosophies on rabbits as companion animals, but they were not receptive to even our vet’s expert opinion on which rabbits needed treatment and why they couldn’t be kept in groups like they were. To not consider disfiguring infection or animals so ill they are nearly falling over a problem just doesn’t make a lot of sense–either you’re clueless or cruel.
Helping 13 is good, anyway. (sigh)
It’s my birthday today. As a gift, we received a super snowstorm and six of us made it to work (of about 30 in the department). Not quite sure how I’m getting home… it’s supposed to keep snowing all day. Since so many people stayed home today, though, the roads were mostly empty. It’s not so bad if you’re driving 25 mph with 4wd.
This is also the six month anniversary of my going vegetarian. No, Matt, I’m not having soy-duck and soy-salad for dinner. Because of the snow, we’re staying in (I wanted Towering Eggplant at Scholar’s Inn). I think General Tso’s Tofu is on the menu instead!
Here is what I’m happy about:
In 183.71 days, you have saved:
0.0691 cows
15.173 chickens
0.1685 pigs
0.5057 turkeys
0.0404 ducks
28.660 fishTotal: 44.618 animals
This comes from a veg*n calculator, and is discussed a bit here.
Some light reading on environmental reasons for vegetarianism, for those of you who aren’t as swayed by the animal part:
Saw this while stuck in traffic today–the game is tomorrow. I had been following the “Go Colts” guy for awhile and laughed when the FedEx guy passed him.
