Suspicious!

My next door neighbour is an old woman who obviously doesn't like and has never kept rabbits. She told me she sees them as pests, and by keeping a rabbit I am allowing a pest into the neighbourhood. :evil: Over the past couple of weeks, when she's seen Ralphy running free in the garden, she has come round to the house to tell me that she is worried he's going to jump over the fence that separates us (5ft) and "eat all the plants." I assure her that the garden is completely rabbit proofed and that there is no way he could scale a 5ft fence and that it's not "plants" in general that he eats - it's select vegetables and dandelion leaves.. ANYWAY..

Yesterday she came over to tell me that she was sure he'd definitely "jumped" the 5ft fence and nibbled the plants in the garden, and she handed me a few plants where she had obviously ripped pieces out of the leaves, :roll:saying that he'd destroyed them! This was IMPOSSIBLE as I was with Ralphy in the garden, every second that he was out. She told me that he must have escaped from his hutch in the night, leapt over the wall and eaten her plants. :roll:Again, IMPOSSIBLE! So we decided she was mad and just let her get on with it.

Fast forward to today... >>>>>

There was a carrot thrown over into our garden from her side this lunchtime while Ralph was outside (I was watching him binkying from the kitchen window.) Now Ralph LOVES carrots, but he does this thing where he sees it, sniffs it, moves away then turns back and eats it. It suddenly dawned on me while he was sniffing: Why the hell would she, the rabbit-hater, throw a carrot over the wall?!! I went outside and picked it up. It was old, yellowish and SMELT funny. :shock:I looked over the wall to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing but she had disappeared inside. I went round next door with the carrot in hand and she didn't answer the doorbell!!! :evil:

What do you think is going on?! Should I bring him inside so he doesn't get poisoned in the night?!

Is he in his hutch on a night?
So sorry just seen he is.Do you have padlocks on the hutch?If not i would put some on.
:shock:The neighbour seems a weirdo.

Padlock on hutch is a good idea!

She seem to be one of those people who is lonely and has nothing better to do than make up stories around her very old fashioned and Beatrix Potter-esque opinions.

Still worries me that she could be on a mission to poison him..:shock:

Yep you never know.I would deffo get a padlock for the hutch and get a dummy cctv camera from ebay(they are about a tenner)and point it at the rabbit hutch,she won,t know if it is real or not

Yes, I reckon cheap CCTV is the way to go too, and alo put signs up all around so that she knows. This works so that it will hopefully deter her, but more than that, you can gather evidence if necessary of what she is doing.

I'm afraid I would be suspicious and do everything to protect him - you just never know with some people do you?

Sounds a bit scary...I would be very concerned over the welfare of my bun.....
Im tempted (just slightly) to say that she may be a bit lonely and trying to make friends,or deaf and thats why she didnt answer the door or just has a little head problem.....sort of benefit of the doubt but be on the safe side......

by the sounds of this she's a right weirdo i would take him in side but still let him run around of just get a curved over fence so nothing can be chooked in hope i helped she sounds a bit of a weirds :lol:

God I wouldnt let him out my sight with her about. She sounds nasty, even if she is an old lady she has made it obv she doesnt like buns so why feed him?

I'd be more worried about her trying to poison your bunny :shock:
Helen xx

She sounds very strange indeed! :shock: Old people can often become quite paranoid, it is really quite common....so if she was already a bit strange, I expect that she may be getting a bit that way too.

Personally, I'd bring your bun indoors and have him as a house bun.....it's Autumn now and the perfect time to get him in before his coat thickens too much.

p.s. I too would be concerned about your rabbit's welfare....i'd have him in the house with you or as suggested find some padlocks - however - padlocks are not going to stop her pushing stuff through the bars....assuming SHE is now going to scale the 5ft fence! :shock:

She sounds a right interferring old bint! What is wrong with people? Obviously hasn't got anything better to do.... I really don't like people that don't like animals, esp rabbits.

:evil:

Blimey, I would be very very careful, it's frightening when you think how easy she could poison him, not even carrot tops, just a surreptitious spray of weedkiller on a bit of lawn over the fence...:shock::evil:

I would def def def be very suspicious of the sudden u-turn where ur bunny is concerned and take precautions
xxx

Actually thinking about this again with my legal hat on....I would actually say that if you feel at any point this lady is threatening the welfare of your pet - damage to your legal property - you may want to make a call to the police!

Hopefully she's just a paranoid old lady with nothing better to do and will leave you alone from now on.

I want to say you should get the carrot tested for poisonous substances but I have no idea who you would ask or whether it would be possible. If it smelt of chemicals I would contact the police but they will probably think you are mad or wasting their time.
It sounds very worrying.

God she sounds horrible. Your poor bun!
I would bring him inside, be keeping records of everything she says about him/buns in general (CCTV ideal as mentioned but even just writing any conversations down with dates and times would be good), keeping anything she throws over the fence so that it can be tested if necessary, and I would get on the phone to the local authorities/rspca maybe? I dunno how helpful it would be but it's better than nothing I guess...

lilbun said:

If it smelt of chemicals I would contact the police but they will probably think you are mad or wasting their time.

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Sadly yes But always good to have a complaint on record if you felt something she did deserved it - just incase anything should happen. You may find just threatening her with a call to them....if she should do something 'odd' again might be enough to get her off your back.

Alternatively you could post some bunny droppings through her letterbox! :lol: I'm kidding! I would just ignore her as best you can.

We used to have a very strange old couple living nextdoor to us once when we were renting - they were absolutely foul. Told our landlord I was a prostitute receiving male visitors all day!!!:shock: Er....actually no I was a Med student on the wards at the hospital all day!!!:lol: Old people can 'sometimes' be quite nasty, like I said, old age tends to kick in a bit of paranoia sometimes. :?

prettylupin said:

Sadly yes But always good to have a complaint on record if you felt something she did deserved it - just incase anything should happen. You may find just threatening her with a call to them....if she should do something 'odd' again might be enough to get her off your back.

Alternatively you could post some bunny droppings through her letterbox! :lol: I'm kidding! I would just ignore her as best you can.

We used to have a very strange old couple living nextdoor to us once when we were renting - they were absolutely foul. Told our landlord I was a prostitute receiving male visitors all day!!!:shock: Er....actually no I was a Med student on the wards at the hospital all day!!!:lol: Old people can 'sometimes' be quite nasty, like I said, old age tends to kick in a bit of paranoia sometimes. :?

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It's true. My mum became very paranoid with her alzheimers. Not nasty, but you can see how that could happen in some cases xx

Man I would be well worried!!

If you dont bring him inside then I would def put a padlock on and make sure the mesh had gaps too small to push food through!

I used to have nightmares about people doing things to my buns... we had some horrid boys a few doors down that were trying to shoot my outdoor buns with BB guns!! I was soooo angry :evil::evil:

Luckily, they dont live by my mum any more and I have never had anything happen to those outdoor buns and Rimmi lives inside with me

Good luck with this horrid evil beech!!