• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Earless rabbits

Should Earless rabbits be culled at birth?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 70 100.0%

  • Total voters
    70
Status
Not open for further replies.

Starlight

Warren Veteran
After a debate on another forum,

I thought i would ask the question over here.

Should an earless rabbit (due to overgrooming by the mother when it is a kit) be culled by breeders as " When breeding, you have to cut out the bad ones" ?

Pick n pay specials is regularly updated for everyone who seeks grocery deals.
 
Well I know you have already seen my responses on the other forum Kris

No it should not.
The argument being put forward is that it will weaken the breed, but a bun that has lost its ears due to over grooming is not a weak bun, it is not a genetic fault and could quite easily be found a home.

Would be interesting if people could answer with a simple yes or no! (Kris will get this point!)
 
I know of a bunny who had her ears chewed off at birth from mother and she has grown up fine absolutely normal can still hear and is very happy.

There is absolutely no need to cull them at birth that is ridiculous
 
And also the point that someone made being that culling these imperfect rabbits is doing the rescue a favour as they are more likely to end up in a rescue long term :?
 
No dilemma at all on this one. It sounds like it's all about cosmetics and convenience - not about what's good for either the breed or the individual bunny.

I think most of us *here* would be proud to own an earless bunny as it would represent a life that wasn't destroyed for the sake of it. :D
 
Meet Rosie a gorgeous little earless tri coloured Dutch whose ears were chewed off at birth. She has been coming here on her holidays now for over 2 years and is gorgeous, she is no different to any other rabbit apart from her ears and this doesn't seem to impede her in any way so my answer is a definite NO. She also came from a rescue(where she was born) and her owner picked her because she was different to all the other buns.
HHRosienoears-1.jpg
 
And also the point that someone made being that culling these imperfect rabbits is doing the rescue a favour as they are more likely to end up in a rescue long term :?

I actually doubt that as the compassionate people who go to rescues are likely to notice that bunny over the others (I've no experience of running a rescue of cause, that's just my gut feeling).
 
I have some lovely earless buns :love:

I can vaguely see the point about them ending up in rescues as I guess they are harder to rehome and my earless boys came from a rescue. But I'm sure the majority of rescues would prefer to find space for them than know they are being culled at birth.

So my answer is no :)
 
This debate came around after the eyerolling topic of breeding came up, when a breeder replied

ok i breed because i show and want to improve the standard and produce good babies that i can show each year
all babies are sold or given away i dont cull the excess babies , however i do cull babies that have been attacked by mum over groomed ( ears missing etc )
 
Not all breeders do it, my friend is a rabbit breeder she keeps the ones with no ears or sells them onto to suitable owners, she demands they will be kept has house rabbits though.
 
NO NO NO
IMG_1333.jpg


One thing though,Stumpys Mum was able to have more babies and she did the same to them too,so I dont think a Mummy should be able to have more babies
 
I know of a bunny who had her ears chewed off at birth from mother and she has grown up fine absolutely normal can still hear and is very happy.

There is absolutely no need to cull them at birth that is ridiculous

I know the very same little bunny! She has gone on to have a few litters of *suprise, suprise* very eared bunnies...hehe...What do people who want to cull them think will happen?!

I also know a bunny who is missing a few toes as mummy bun got OCD when cleaning him as a kit.
 
Whaaaat? Earlessness that occurs after birth is not going to have any effect on any babies the earless rabbit might produce. So the breeder's argument makes no sense... It's not something that could be passed on :s
Most earless rabbits seem to get along just fine. Culling them seems pointless. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be fine with owning an earless rabbit... they just look a lil different..
 
This debate came around after the eyerolling topic of breeding came up, when a breeder replied

Where on earth did this come up...!? I have nothing against responsible breeding (Teddy's from one), but this is ludicrous! No wonder so many people are so against it!! Culling because ears are missing?! *grumblegrumble*
 
No way, i had earless foster buns and the first person that saw them whisked them off to their loving forever home, it did not matter about their ears (or lack of them) at all!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top