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The 4-H club does what!?!

Teal'c

Alpha Buck
My sisters work at a birds of prey rehabilitation center. Recently the local 4-H club offered them some rabbits to feed to the birds. The rehab center turned them down.

Now I had always thought the 4-H club was an animal lover's thing. As I did some background research to write a complait to the organization, I realized this may not be the case.

This is copy/pasted from the Texas 4-H and Youth Development Program...
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Community Service Ideas: 1. Provide displays of bunnies for special community activities, such as pet fairs, grand openings for public buildings, etc.
2. Furnish rabbit barbeque for special community activities.
3. Have a method demonstration on how community organizations could prepare and use the pelts and feet for arts and crafts projects.
4. Provide rabbits and instruction on their proper care for day school, kindergartens, and other places where young children, mentally-retarded, or senior citizens are involved.
5. Using rabbits as examples, demonstrate the importance of:
a. Cleanliness and sanitation promotes healthy environments.
b. Sick individuals should be isolated and treated.
c. Care for the young by having proper equipment and attention at birth.
d. Clean water and feed along with regular attention results in healthy animals.
6. Promote compliance with city ordinances and regulations.
7. Supply rabbits to a local hospital or research lab.
8. Supply rabbit meat for persons on a special diet.
9. Supply rabbit manure for community gardens, nursing home gardens, or gardens of elderly.
10. Provide earthworms for senior citizens to use for fishing.
11. Provide rabbits for community fund-raising activities.
12. Work with the humane society or the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and provide information about proper shelter, feeding, and caring for rabbits.

http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/rabbits.html
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I personally, am appalled. I always had this image of children raising animals - pet animals! But I guess I was wrong.
 
who on earth has a special diet that only means eating rabbit? !! thats horrid. i hadnt heard of them befor but im glad i hadnt!
 
Bascially its an organisation which encourages kids, yes KIDS in the USA to breed rabbits, and I think guinea pigs are also another 'option'.

Then once they've finished, the 'stock' is sold off to other breeders I assume however, a certain % end up in rescues or in a stew! I know about these 'breeders' from an american based forum and the rabbits are kept like battery hens and some kids have 80 plus rabbits!!!!!!!

It is the most :censored: up 'educational' scheme I have ever heard off!:evil:
 
I can see where it is coming from, ie benefitting the community, however, it is such a backward way of helping people, and certainly does NOT help the animals!:evil: :evil: :evil: What child should be taught to give away rabbits as prizes or for labs!!!!! It creates a youth culture which have no respect for life!
 
It creates a youth culture which have no respect for life!

Agreed!

I went to the barn where I work and saw this...



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Rabbits for Sale
3 female
1 male
$15
We are making room for new 4-H bunnies.
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So it's okay to get an animal and have absolutely no intention of keeping them their entire lives? Rabbits are disposable after one year? Did you know your bunny can live up to 10 years, making them a pet more like dogs or cats than mice or rats? Ten years. But every year you want to breed more for the 4-H club. Somehow that doesn't fit into "Head, Heart, Hands, Health."
 
4H has nothing to do with pets, although some clubs have added programs such as dog training/dog agility, pet cat shows, etc. But the most 4H kids are farmers or live in rural areas, city kids just aren't as likely to join. And the primary purpose has always been to get them involved with real life stuff... like breeding and raising animals for slaughter. They even have carcass judging competitions for the beef cattle and pigs after they are judged at the fair while alive. *puke*

Pet rabbit breeds are more common now than meat breeds, but they still are usually treated like livestock more than pets. And you don't want to know what the 4H rabbit program advisers consider appropriate cages. And for the kids that don't breed but still want to show, they'll get an animal just for the show, then get rid of it when it's too old to be shown and get a new one.:censored:

How do I know? My hubby was in 4H as a kid.:(
 
Oh, no. Oh no they didn't. Please take a look at their Rabbit Project Reference Manual. And then please, spread the word.

I especially enjoyed learning the difference between a "fryer" and a "roaster." It depends on the age/weight of the bunny at the time they are slaughtered.

I also enjoyed the no hay, no fresh greens, and the be sure to "cut the litter to seven or eight" after 48 hours. But those were just my favorites. You can find your own by reading the manual.

http://209.85.165.104/u/texas4h?q=c....pdf+rabbit&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

If that link doesn't work, follow this one and type in 'rabbit.' It's the first link at the top of the page.

http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/search/index.html
 
A few of from the forum went to a rabbit conference in Woking about a year ago. They had a lady who had come to the conference from the States, she ran a rabbit 'welfare group' there. She was telling us that at their meetings they would discuss rabbit welfare problems AND also recipees :( Her rabbits didnt end up in the pot but many people who went to their meetings would have been doing this with their own rabbits.
 
A few of from the forum went to a rabbit conference in Woking about a year ago. They had a lady who had come to the conference from the States, she ran a rabbit 'welfare group' there. She was telling us that at their meetings they would discuss rabbit welfare problems AND also recipees :( Her rabbits didnt end up in the pot but many people who went to their meetings would have been doing this with their own rabbits.

:censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
 
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