Bad enough to report? ...

About a year ago, my friend told me about someone in our village giving away baby rabbits for free. She went and got one, and stupidly so did I. I was horrified when I went round. There were about 3 runs, each with a mother and litter in. Each had a teeny tiny hutch in with no bedding, and at the time no food and a filthy water bottle. They were giving away 6 WEEK OLD babies for free, and even advertised (A sign on their window). One male was in a tiny indoor hutch, covered with a plastic sheet outside. The other two were in tiny hutches (I think). A large doe and her newly born litter were also cramped in a small hutch. As for the no bedding and food, I don't know wether they were just cleaning the rabbits out at the time. But surely, giving baby rabbits away at such age for free can't be legal?

I tried reporting to the RSPCA online but they never got back to me.

EDIT - And they were giving away these rabbits to children without parents permission.

There are no laws I am aware off that stop people giving away pets, free or otherwise. The only thing you can report is the living conditions. The RSPCA can also offer her advice as its wrong to be bringing so many new bunnies into the world.

I forgot something! They were giving away, 6 week old baby rabbits for free TO CHILDREN UNDER 16 WITHOUT PARENTS PERMISSION! That must be bad enough

Demismith said:

I forgot something! They were giving away, 6 week old baby rabbits for free TO CHILDREN UNDER 16 WITHOUT PARENTS PERMISSION! That must be bad enough

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Not sure how the law stands with that but how awful. I am shocked at these people, definitely report them these things should all go against them.

I wish I could send someone round just to beat the out of these people

Yeah I think you can report the living conditions to the RSPCA try calling them?

Please ring the RSPCA - this sounds dreadful. I used to work for them and I know our inspector would be round there like a shot!!! My blood is boiling!!!

I would be round there kicking some serious ass!

What would they be most bothered about? Giving them away to under 16's free or the living conditions. Like I said, they might of just been cleaning out.

Poor things

Do you know if these people are still doing this? :? If they aren't (maybe it was a one-off having put their rabbits together and ended up with 3 or 4 accidental litters from one buck mixing with several does and they just wanted to pass on the babies asap) then I don't know how much attention the RSPCA would pay if it were a year-old case and no current evidence of it happening :?

I can't see that they would be doing it for profit on a permenant basis, baby rabbits and pregnant does are all extra mouths to feed and giving them away free isn't exactly covering the cost - unless they were breeding them as a hobby but still I would have thought that they would try and make a bit of money back for it :shock:

So are they still doing this?

The report wasn't processed last time because I didn't know the house number, but earlier this week I sent another report with the address. It is against animal welfare laws to sell animals to anyone under the age of 16, so hopefully they will get a ban or fine or something *Crosses Fingers*

And I dont know about the conditions, but they had a sign up in the window earlier this week saying 'Free Baby Rabbits'.

Hope RSPCA can do something. I hate seeing animals being advertised as 'FREE'. Absolutely disgraceful. Don't know how they can sleep at night.

Demismith said:

The report wasn't processed last time because I didn't know the house number, but earlier this week I sent another report with the address. It is against animal welfare laws to sell animals to anyone under the age of 16, so hopefully they will get a ban or fine or something *Crosses Fingers*

And I dont know about the conditions, but they had a sign up in the window earlier this week saying 'Free Baby Rabbits'.

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If they arent technically selling the buns (as theyre giving them away), does that law apply still? Even if you arent doing it for profit, id want to charge something to put people off getting one on a whim, some people, not the sort youd want to give your pet to, would get one if it was free, and i bet theyd let it die in pain if it ever got ill! The money raised could easily put towards the costs of the babies in the first place, or even better give it to a charity/rescue centre!

If its there again, doesnt look so much like an accident, unless they are just completely stupid! If it was accidental then maybe the rspca can at least tell them to get the buns neutored. Sounds like they have a few buns there too, all living seperately, so again doesnt sound like too much of an accident!

As for the 6 weeks...it is disguisting, but iv seen it before! Normally like someone said people who've had accidental litters, but i bet some breeders who want to make a better profit might even do it, maybe even lying about the age (if people lie about an adult rabbit being younger than they are, i bet some people would lie about them being older).

You could try giving a little friendly advise, they might not listen, but at least youv tried, just give tips like "did you know its advised not to seperate till 8 weeks...blah blah". If they react badly to you then that makes it suspicious, if they dont then they may have genuinly not known (i think years back when we got our baby buns they were only 6 weeks old, back then people didnt know much about buns like they do now). Just an idea, but id totally understand you not wanting to do it to their face, it can be daunting!