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Statement From Burgess Pet Care's Facebook Page Re the Harrogate Small Animal Show

J

Jack's-Jane

Wise Old Thumper
''Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to contact us regarding the Small Animal Show. Through many years of sponsorship of the Premier Small Animal Show in Harrogate, we have continually taken a positive approach to improving welfare standards with emphasis on diet and nutrition. However, there remain some welfare related concerns arising from this particular event. It would be wrong for us to ignore these concerns as they contradict the core beliefs of our business.
We will continue to prioritise initiatives that support the broadest possible community of rabbit owners such as our work with leading UK charities, including Rabbit Awareness Week. We will not however continue to support this event.''
 
There's a bit of a slanging match going on over there between rescue rabbit owners and breeders :shock:
 
Tracy said:
Isn't there just :shock: I supposed to be getting on with my housework this afternoon and I'm getting nowt done! :lol:
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:lol::lol:I've been a bit distracted too (I'm supposed to be working :oops:) I seriously can't believe how rude some of them are.
 
So they are pulling out of a show for "ethical" reasons, a show where people go with their (for the majority) carefully bred rabbits but they say nothing of stopping selling their products in Pets at home... I would expect that there are a lot more rabbits in rescue due to Pets at home than show breeders.
 
SarahP said:
Anyone know what the welfare reasons they have highlighted are?
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The statement Jane has copied is all I've seen. Everybody seems to be drawing their own conclusions. Some people are linking it with a blog by RWAF but I don't think the decision can come about so quickly it must have been something they were already considering. Handling, stress in small pens etc, just generally shows being stressful for rabbits would *seem* to be the factors... but I've not seen it stated.
 
I went along this year, and it had a very strange atmosphere - I shan't go again. Also, at the Burgess stand they had a very limited display and none of the usual educational input. Guinea pig products were on the display, but not for sale, which seemed very unusual, and there were no hay suppliers at all (a wasted trip honestly - neither hay nor treats).
 
I hate shows too. :(. It's not just the actual showing bit, it's everything else that showing generates, the breeding programmes all in the hope of producing the perfect specimen, the culling of the ones who don't come up to scratch because they have some minute cosmetic defect, culling the animals who are deemed 'past their best' before they are 2 years old, their miserable lonely lives, it's all the stuff behind closed doors. All this wasted life for a stupid rosette. It's very sad.

There were certain points raised on FB that made my blood boil last night. They, as in the show breeders, claim that none of their rabbits end up in rescues and that rescues are just full of sickly Pets at Home rabbits. I've first hand experience of two show breeders, one of which is a BRC judge, who regularly offload their 'substandard' and 'past it' rabbits on a rescue, the rescue always takes them because if she doesn't she knows they will be necked within the hour and she can't bear that on her conscience I loathe these two people. This BRC judge even came back from a show with a couple of rabbits that weren't his, the rabbits hadn't won anything so the owners wanted rid immediately, by 'rid' I mean culled, so he 'rescued' them, as he liked to put it, and straight away offloaded them on an already over full rescue.
 
I think this is excellent news. Every time someone stands up and says "This is wrong" about animal exploitation, the world is made a better place. The aggression from the breeders and people involved with the rabbit shows just proves that they don't give a flying monkey about their animals. I hope that this has cast the people involved with this industry in a very bad light.
 
Sarah1991 said:
Jo Hinde did an article on it, just in case nobody has seen it.
http://www.rabbitawareness.co.uk/20...l-animal-show-good-advice-or-promoting-abuse/

I hate shows. I really do. :(

I think this is the blog everyone is talking about, its not an RWAF one, just one that Jo writes herself. The RWAF said they were going to release something official soon.
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Has everyone seen the comments on this page? I was reading with my mouth open in shock.

This one in particular...
"You have no idea what you are talking about.. We do not trance our rabbits and rabbits do NOT like living in pairs they kill each other.. "

It worries me how little some of these people seem to know.
 
Kosu said:
Has everyone seen the comments on this page? I was reading with my mouth open in shock.

This one in particular...
"You have no idea what you are talking about.. We do not trance our rabbits and rabbits do NOT like living in pairs they kill each other.. "

It worries me how little some of these people seem to know.
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I saw a comment about how rabbits should in fact live in small spaces because if they get given a big space they'll run and go crazy and hurt themselves, so it's safer to keep them in small confined spaces!!!



....yes because a rabbit doing what's natural, in a big space, is ever so harmful isn't it!! Grrr some people


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ng-interactive/2016/feb/02/small-animal-show-photo-essay

:cry:

And from the BRC Website- a statement:

''
PHOTOGRAPHS OF JUDGING RABBITS In respect to the photographs produced in the article by Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Newspaper at the Small Animal Show at Harrogate on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January 2016. The Individuals involved in the Judging of all rabbits have undertaken many years of training and development in the handling of the various breeds. They are appointed to judge due to their experience, knowledge and understanding of the relevant breeds. As part of the judging criteria, it is responsibility of the judge to ensure the rabbit is handled in line with laid down procedures. The welfare of the rabbit is paramount before, during and after judging has been completed. At no time during judging are rabbits placed under excessive stress or discomfort. THE BRITISH RABBIT COUNCIL
 
"Laid down procedures.." Surely very outdated procedures!!!! Just because something is 'deemed' to be right, it doesn't mean that it is!!!
 
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