I live in a rural town in the willamette valley Oregon.
We recently had a heat wave with temps into the high 90's and 100's.
Went to someones house and saw they had a rabbit in a small cage wraped up in a black tarp sitting in the sun. I tried to get them to bring the rabbit inside they would not. I took the plastic off and put the cage in the shade and purchased 2 blocks of ice, put ice block in cage for rabbit. I came back to check on rabbit, they had returned the rabbit to the sun, it had no water at all.
I asked if I could buy the now dying rabbit. Offered $50 they said "NO"
to make a long story short I ended up stealing the rabbit from them.
I brought it home put in in my bedroom where the air conditioner keeps the temp at a constant 72 degrees. I kept bunny in a box about 6 ft by 6 ft with some horse hay, dandelions, clover and flowers from my garden. (I use no pesticides or herbicides what so ever) The bunny is better after a week.
This is my question; I cannot keep the rabbit as these people have called the police.
I will not return the rabbit as these people will not take care of the rabbit. (It had no water and was being killed in a tiny dirty cage in the heat)
The rabbit was wild when they caught it, there are are about 10 to 15 wild rabbits in the area they were once domesticated (I can tell because they are white with small brown patches) I don't feel good about letting it go, but I don't many alternatives.
I would return it to the area where the other rabbits are, where it lived when it was captured by the mean people. This group of feral rabbits has survived long enough to breed, but the survival rate must be low because there are only 10-15 and they have lived in the neighborhood for 4 to 5 years.
What would you do? I don't want to go to jail for theft but I will not give the bunny back to someone who will kill the rabbit from neglect. (this is the 3rd rabbit they have caught, the other two died)
We recently had a heat wave with temps into the high 90's and 100's.
Went to someones house and saw they had a rabbit in a small cage wraped up in a black tarp sitting in the sun. I tried to get them to bring the rabbit inside they would not. I took the plastic off and put the cage in the shade and purchased 2 blocks of ice, put ice block in cage for rabbit. I came back to check on rabbit, they had returned the rabbit to the sun, it had no water at all.
I asked if I could buy the now dying rabbit. Offered $50 they said "NO"
to make a long story short I ended up stealing the rabbit from them.
I brought it home put in in my bedroom where the air conditioner keeps the temp at a constant 72 degrees. I kept bunny in a box about 6 ft by 6 ft with some horse hay, dandelions, clover and flowers from my garden. (I use no pesticides or herbicides what so ever) The bunny is better after a week.
This is my question; I cannot keep the rabbit as these people have called the police.
I will not return the rabbit as these people will not take care of the rabbit. (It had no water and was being killed in a tiny dirty cage in the heat)
The rabbit was wild when they caught it, there are are about 10 to 15 wild rabbits in the area they were once domesticated (I can tell because they are white with small brown patches) I don't feel good about letting it go, but I don't many alternatives.
I would return it to the area where the other rabbits are, where it lived when it was captured by the mean people. This group of feral rabbits has survived long enough to breed, but the survival rate must be low because there are only 10-15 and they have lived in the neighborhood for 4 to 5 years.
What would you do? I don't want to go to jail for theft but I will not give the bunny back to someone who will kill the rabbit from neglect. (this is the 3rd rabbit they have caught, the other two died)