Blame Game in AfterMath of Rabbit Hoarding Case

You see the headlines every day about hoarding situations. Usually all you get are the more gruesome details and photos because that is, of course, the media's bread and butter. Get your attention, horrify you, stir up your emotions, then drop you without any background information to give the reader the ENTIRE story. In many ways, this was the case of Bunny Magic, a legal not for profit 501c3 organzation in Lusby, Maryland,  whose owner was recently brought up on charges of animal cruelty after an undercover PETA investigation revealed 200 plus rabbits were being kept in some very sorry situations. The rabbits are now at a shelter, completely overwhelmed by not only the sheer number of rabbits, but by the lack of experience in caring for them. Groups like RabbitWise are stepping in to get money for supplies to assist the shelter; RabbitWise has even offered to train the shelter people. Right now the rabbits, all of whom will need homes once released, are not accessible by anyone but shelter staff due to the impending legal case. Unlike the hoarding situations where people become animal collectors, Bunny Magic was a legitimately run rabbit rescue whose resources were limited and whose owner became overwhelmed with lack of volunteers and who suffered from the simple inability to say no when someone else had a rabbit to dump at her doorstep.

Whatever you may think of PETA, or how this case came about, if you knew Carole Van Wie and are in sympathy with her situation (let's face it, people, it can happen to any of us--the urge to save these rabbits' or any animal's lives is a powerful one), the bottom line is we need to focus our emotions on these rabbits and getting them into a better situation. And rather than berating PETA or the media for false impressions or insufficent reporting, we who love rabbits need to direct our anger at the reasons why places like Bunny Magic have to exist. Bunny Magic exists because of irresponsible profit-driven breeders who sell rabbits through pet stores, tractor supply companies, county fairs, etc. and the ignorant parents who buy cute little bunny rabbits for their very young children without bothering to do any research into the kind of animal they are bringing home to their kids. Really, think about it, brilliant idea, isn't it, to procure for a little child a PREY animal who fears every other living being on the planet?  We who care and love our rabbits need to get out there more and advocate for them by fighting the forces that perpetuate these situations. Whether it is through political action or education, all of us need to get the word out there that the people responsible for the tragic stories like Carole Van Wie's are those who buy animals instead of adopting them then dump them into strained shelters or groups or worse, just abandon them in the wild.  When I read some of the callous responses of people commenting on the Bunny Magic story, I wonder how many of these judgemental people (most of whom do not have all the facts)  could have done something rather than pass judgment. The same can be said for those rabbit companion lovers who would rather waste time whining about PETA and the media, what should and shouldn't have happened in this investigation (one could argue something should have been done years ago, but wasn't. Who is to blame for that? Why did PETA have to step in in the first place, if so many people had been aware of the grim conditions at Bunny Magic at the first place? Think about that.) 

Let's all stop now, step back, take some deep breaths, and reflect. Let's rethink our battle strategies. We need to focus on making places like Bunny Magic irrelevant. If we do that, then so many more rescue-hoarding situations can be prevented. Let's work to ACT so we don't have to REACT later. And if we must indulge in the blame game, let us put it where it really lies--with the animal-buying and animal-dumping public.

The story this blog refers to can be read here at http://smnewsnet.com/archives/20717

A Summer Treat for Two Furry Sweets

     Rabbits just don't get the whole concept of using an actual plate. SIGH.

Rabbit on the Menu

Does this photo anger you? It should. It angers me. It angers me that rabbits are showing up on more and more dinner menus these days. It saddens me to think that some chefs are so clueless to what these animals mean to so many people that they must concoct an eight course menu, with the theme "Duelling Rabbits" to see how many ways they can serve up our companion animals to their hungry clients (a San Diego restaurant did this very thing a week or so ago, despite the many calls and letters of protest that ensued once RabbitWise got the word out about this.)

There is no question that human beings are a gluttonous species. Is it any wonder the majority in this country are obese and suffering from so many ailments? We tell ourselves we are on top of the food chain so that gives us the right to eat anything and anyone we choose. We are so devoted to satisfying the growling of our stomachs that we refuse to see that what we are putting on our plates are the remains of fellow beings who have every right to a full life on this planet as we do.  I wish every person could spend a day--just one day--with a rabbit and really engage with this animal. To deepen and strengthen our own humanity, we must be willing to reach out to other beings and to really see them for who they are, not WHAT we think they are. We don't have to see animals as food or a byproduct just as most people today do not look upon African Americans as slaves. We can change our perceptions and act accordingly. For the sake of the future of our species in an overpopulated world whose resources every year get scarcer and scarcer, we must do this.

The Hoppy Vegan

A Letter to Woodstock

Dear Woody,
It was one year ago today that we let you go to the Rainbow Bridge after your valiant fight first with crippling spondylosis and then cancer. I still cannot think of you or talk about you without crying. You were and always will be my heart bunny. I can smile now in remembering you but always,
always through tears. I still laugh when I recall the day you ripped open the bag of Care Fresh and spread it all over our basement carpet in protest of our spending too much time at the computer and not with you. You stood there so proud as “Dad” and I laughed and took your picture.

And how sweet were you when Cinnamon, so young when she came to us that she could not yet be spayed, kept trying to mount you, and you patiently endured it, occasionally giving her big kisses on her head to calm her down?

So much has happened since that very sad day when we said goodbye. Your “dad” and I are divorced. I live in a new place and never see Dad or the other rabbits now. Cinnamon is still with me. She has had a tough year too. She lost her second friend Boo only two months after they met and fell in love. Now she shares her home with a handsome and sweet grey rex named Benjamin, who was saved from certain death at a kill shelter by Lori Sundberg of Friends of Rabbits. You would like him, Woody—he is very very sweet though sometimes a little clueless when it comes to Cinnamon. He needs to kiss her a little more. It is so funny how he gives me this puzzled look when Cinnamon nips him in the butt out of frustration. Still, she adores him and gives him so much love just as she had loved you. Cinnamon took such good care of you. I tell Benjamin he must never take her for granted, when she loves another bunny, she really loves that bunny. Benjamin is a very lucky rabbit in so many ways.


I only wish he would react to Cinnamon the same way he reacts to a slice of watermelon! Women of any species do not appreciate coming in second after food!

It is so strange to be in a place where there are no memories of you ready to spring up and haunt me. In a way this should be comforting, starting a new life for both Cinnamon and me in a place that will not conjure up sadness and loss. And yet I wish your presence was here somewhere. I even miss those hard days during those last months when we had to bathe you every night. I might have been tired and exhausted after a long day at work, but it was a privilege to be able to care for you and give you as much good quality of life as we could as those days grew to a close. I still smile when I think how you enjoyed your spa treatment in the foot spa converted to a hydrotherapy pool. How it drove Dad crazy when I sang “Happy Talk” to you at bathtime. He so hated South Pacific, that song in particular. But it made you happy. And how you loved your treats, even up to the day you died, you just loved those sugar free cookies Dad used to eat. To this day, I cannot look at those cookies in the store anymore without wanting to cry.
I hope the day will come when I can talk freely and often of you without crying. As I look back on this year, I know that day is not here yet. I weep even as I write this letter. I hope somehow the feelings behind these words are reaching you somehow. I do believe in my heart that one day we will all be together again. Call it Heaven, Rainbow Bridge, whatever. I look forward to seeing you run to me, a whole bunny once more, and leap in my arms just like you did two weeks after we brought you into our home, when you showed me that despite how badly you were treated in your first home, you still trusted human beings enough to know I would catch you when you jumped. I miss you, Woody and will love you forever, as I am sure in her heart, Cinnamon will too.
Love, your mom

Christmas 2009 with Woodstock

He and Cinnamon used to live in our basement. They loved it when we used to light a fire in the fireplace. It was so cozy. I miss those times -- and that fireplace!

Remembering Woodstock Week (Rabbit Not the Concert)

A sad anniversary is coming up later this week (for which I will post an appropriate tribute on Thursday). My Woodstock died a year ago and as many of you know, he was a special boy. I want to celebrate him by posting some photos this week of this very special rabbit.

The early days (you can tell, see how small Cinnamon is--she is the one on the left)

Rabbit Sighting

On the way to work this morning, I spotted at the side of the road a young wild rabbit poised just outside the brush, facing the two lane road my bus was traveling on. There was no mistaking his/her ears, high, facing forward, furry brown-furred body poised for flight. Inwardly I prayed he/she would turn and go back to the brush. I don't know what predator may await this rabbit there--fox, raccoon--but surely the road only brought certain death. I wonder now as the day wanes and I get ready to feed my own rabbits the feast of greens in my refrigerator, what choice did this little rabbit make? Imagine how one's fate can change in mere seconds by one simple choice. How many of us have made such decisions that in the end have changed our lives forever? Something to ponder on this otherwise dull Tuesday afternoon.