this was emailed to them 26.11.07
Dear school. `
I would like to express how sorry i was to hear of your recent news involving Martha the rabbit. Everyone involved must be very upset...especially the pupils. I’m sure that whilst you have had Martha, the adults and especially pupils have learned about the responsibility, commitment and care that are involved with any pet whether they are as small as a fish or as big as a giraffe. I cant help but think that the children may be too young to know how to report an incident like this to the Animal Welfare Organisation e.g RSPCA or Rabit Welfare Association, but I feel better that a responsible adult amongst yourselves has already done so, after all, she was just like any other pet that had such a lovely, caring 'school family’
Maybe if I were Martha, I would also have thought about ‘escaping’ but would probably never manage to actually do so as I would hope to be in such a safe and secure environment in the first place i.e. a run with a ‘wire’ bottom so that I would not hurt my paws running/walking/hopping on it, but I would still have access to fresh grass along with either a mixed rabbit food or a pellet form food with all the nutrition and vitamins within it, and also fresh water, along with a sheltered part where I would go should I get scared, frightened or cold.
I would enjoy the thought of ‘packing my bag’ with possibly food, water and grass…imagine the independence! I probably wouldn’t have all the ‘medication’ involved to treat every single illness, but, id be safe in the knowledge that at least my six monthly and yearly vaccinations against Myximatosis and VHD were still current, up to date and recorded so that I knew when the vets were due to give me booster injections. I would not need to worry about that side of things as my loving family of caring and responsible school governors, head masters/mistresses, teachers; and pupils would have seen to make sure that my health checks etc were being carried out
I would then plan the ‘escape from my run’. ‘escape’ being the operative word as for an animal to have the chance to ‘escape’ from any enclosure would imply that the premise was not secure in the first place….
But before doing any of that, I would have a long hard think about the inevitable dangers and risks. I myself would hope and pray that a) I wasn’t going ‘to be taken by a fox’ (or attacked by anything for that matter) b) hope not to get run over, stood on or c) run into by humans. The list of dangers is endless.
I would weigh up the ‘pros’ of ‘escaping from my (safe and secure) run’ versus the ‘cons’ eg...Inevitably being ‘taken by a fox’ etc etc
I look forward to hearing from you as to what action has been taken since the incident and preventative measures should you choose to take responsibility of any animals in future; after all, it is against the law to not provide the basic necessities (I have taken the liberty of enclosing a detailed paragraph of the law below)
What does the law do?
It makes owners and keepers responsible for ensuring that the welfare needs of their animals are met. These include the need:
- For a suitable environment (place to live)
- For a suitable diet
- To exhibit normal behaviour patterns
- To be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
- To be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease
- The new law also increases to 16 the minimum age at which a person can buy an animal and prohibits giving animals as prizes to unaccompanied children under this age.
I will wait to hear from you.
Miss Chan
