Petting places..

What are peoples experiences of these? Ones with rabbits in I mean, we went out yesterday and I was not impressed with the conditions of the rabbits or that were in the petting area and just being picked up constantly and given to different children and back again into a tiny space. I heard a member of staff say they were five - six weeks old.

I hope no one minds me asking, I know I am more sensitive to bunnies, with having my own and them being very pampered so I just wanted to know other peoples feelings please.

Thanks
xxx

From my experience of working at one they had untrained staff and little knowledge of any of the animals

They also had an area called "maternity pens" which had at least six pens in with two rabbits in each pen, whether they were pregnant or trying to get them pregnant i dont know. I did take photos of it all. Why though??

There was another area which in the same pen had 2 giants, 4 lops and at least 10 babies in. Rabbit mix for food, no hay in this pen but some, not a lot in maternity pens.

I dont know if i was just being over sensitive.

xx

From what I know, some of the staff had qualifications,ie Dip in animal management, others just had experience in one particular anaimal, others just did what they were told.
The kids were demons, but at least the animals had proper enclosures and petting time was limited with staff present.
One member of staff on her last day managed to get the vet involved..(a donkey with something was already being seen on the day) and the ferrets who were raced 3 times a day were all in season....a vasectomised hob not doing his job properly...and so the ferrets were all speyed and no races could be held for a long while..hehehehehehehe)
Animals were all clean and well fed with water available.....
but euthanasia was...ahem...much to be desired......specially with small furries....
IMO management had no heart towards the animals....the visitors bought in MONEY.That was all that kept management happy.Not the loss of an animal the staff loved.

Dobbin said:

They also had an area called "maternity pens" which had at least six pens in with two rabbits in each pen, whether they were pregnant or trying to get them pregnant i dont know. I did take photos of it all. Why though??

There was another area which in the same pen had 2 giants, 4 lops and at least 10 babies in. Rabbit mix for food, no hay in this pen but some, not a lot in maternity pens.

I dont know if i was just being over sensitive.

xx

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Because sadly if these places advertise 'baby bunnies' it's a big draw to the public. I saw that the place I worked at last year was advertising at Easter that they had baby bunnies, baby chicks etc.

Any babies they had got sold at £10 a go to anyone who wanted them.

The cute, fluffy baby chicks they had last year grew up, got shoved in a henhouse out the back and got eaten by mink.

we have one near us that is fantastic in fact my retired giants go to live there

Dobbin said:

What are peoples experiences of these? Ones with rabbits in I mean, we went out yesterday and I was not impressed with the conditions of the rabbits or that were in the petting area and just being picked up constantly and given to different children and back again into a tiny space. I heard a member of staff say they were five - six weeks old.

I hope no one minds me asking, I know I am more sensitive to bunnies, with having my own and them being very pampered so I just wanted to know other peoples feelings please.

Thanks
xxx

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The petting place is undoubtedly using the animals to sell its services. Presumably it also makes money out of the ancillary services (e.g. cafe, shop, etc). The animals might just be treated as the "lure" to get customers in.

No doubt they will also claim to comply with all relevant welfare legislation and recommendations. In view of the situation described, perhaps they could explain how they actually do so. The "Five Freedoms" certainly appear to be lacking.

A polite email to the petting place's management might effect improvements in my opinion.

Snouter said:

The petting place is undoubtedly using the animals to sell its services. Presumably it also makes money out of the ancillary services (e.g. cafe, shop, etc). The animals might just be treated as the "lure" to get customers in.

No doubt they will also claim to comply with all relevant welfare legislation and recommendations. In view of the situation described, perhaps they could explain how they actually do so. The "Five Freedoms" certainly appear to be lacking.

A polite email to the petting place's management might effect improvements in my opinion.

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All depends on the management. The managers at the place I worked at only cared about the money coming in, and very little was spent out on the care of the animals. They only made slight improvements after a visit from the RSPCA....after which my contract wasn't renewed

Blackberry & Co said:

All depends on the management. The managers at the place I worked at only cared about the money coming in, and very little was spent out on the care of the animals. They only made slight improvements after a visit from the RSPCA....after which my contract wasn't renewed

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Agreed.

If the focus is entirely on the money, they wont do anything unless they have to.

Thank you all for responding.

I will send them an email and see what response i get. Maybe i will post the pictures on here and see what people think.

Sue
xx

Dobbin said:

Thank you all for responding.

I will send them an email and see what response i get. Maybe i will post the pictures on here and see what people think.

Sue
xx

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It would be interesting to see the pictures - I'm hoping they will look better conditions than the photos I took.

jazzywoo said:

my retired giants go to live there

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