Animal Cruelty CasesAbout animal cruelty cases, beware - the media reports only the info it is given. What might ‘look’ like animal cruelty may very well not be the case at all. On July 21, 2011, approximately 200 rabbits were seized from a reputable breeder of livestock, show, meat and fiber rabbits in Arvada, Colorado, citing 'deplorable' conditions. Days later, 24 misdemeanor charges were pressed. According to the initial media reports from 9news.com and Denver Post: They were aggressively thirsty, and had no food in their bowls. Dead rabbits were being carried out of the shed. The live rabbits were in cages sitting in manure. What would YOU think if you read about rabbits in these atrocious conditions? Yes, us too -- someone is unfit to care for animals, and they should throw the book at 'em.
That ‘sweltering’ heat? They also ‘managed’ to unplug one of the fans. Another fan was turned down but I'm not entirely sure if they did that - I usually run it on full blast in this heat..." Despite rendering the swamp cooler ineffective, messing with the air fans, and then waiting 5 hours to read the thermometer, the temperature read 84 degrees - still very comfortable for the rabbits. Overcrowding? The ‘aggressive thirst’ and no feed in bowls? See pictures published by www.thedenverchannel.com here - taken by themselves, without allowing Ms. Bell to explain, it is easy to see why the ACO calls this an animal cruelty case. The ‘dead rabbits in the shed?’ The dead rabbits were in the freezer. Wow, THAT changes the story a tad, eh? These dead animals weren’t keeled over dead in their cages -- they had been humanely euthanized and were frozen solid in the FREEZER until delivery to the zoo in order to feed zoo predators. Talk about misrepresentation. 8.17.2011 UPDATE: Ms. Bell donates rabbits both to the zoo and to a raptor center. She also accepts donations of rabbits from others, and then euthanizes them in order to feed the predators. The authorities found one dead rabbit in a cage - this was a rabbit that had been dropped off as a donation to the predators, and apparently had died in the cage before it could be euthanized. A second rabbit, an angora, had also been dropped off. This animal was horribly matted. Live rabbits sitting in manure? 8.17.2011 UPDATE: Oops, we were wrong. If you saw the pictures published on August 17, it is clear that a few of the rabbits were indeed sitting IN manure. 98% of rabbits were in clean cages, however the few cages pictured were truly horribly dirty. According to persons familiar with the case, Ms. Bell's 4-H crew had overlooked these cages the prior week. (We are dubious - one cage had 3" of manure. That's a huge pile, and that is NOT good animal husbandry.) "They never once made mention of the fly suppression system in the barn or why there aren't flies in there, nor would they listen to anything I had to say - they just swooped in and it was done. "All of this because someone was in my barn sometime last year. This is where the original anonymous complaint stems from...." May we put in a shameless plug for our easy-off, easy-on wire cage and PVC hutch frame systems? It would have been so easy for Ms. Bell to simply pull out a soiled cage and whip a clean one into the vacated spot. See World of Raising Rabbits. Voila - no animal cruelty case. THE TRUTH
Were the rabbits half-dead from unbearable heat? No. |
However, Raising-Rabbits.com has heard from the other side of this story. The words in italics below are direct quotes from the rabbit breeder, used with permission.
