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| Darla right after arriving at Heartland Rabbit Rescue |
This next photo shows the tattoo that was found in her left ear...another telltale sign that Darla was in the control of a "breeder".
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| Darla...left ear tattoo |
Darla is a member of the "breed" of rabbits called Rex, the principal characteristic associated with a bunny like her is the texture of her fur. It is very short and astonishingly soft...feeling a lot like air filled velvet.
Rexes are very much the "velveteen rabbits" of the bunny folk.
Darla is equipped with a major pair of ears, she almost looks like a Jack Rabbit, they are so large.
She was a bit skittish when she first arrived but seems to be settling into her new home quite well. She has become very friendly and almost always asks for attention whenever a human animal is near.
She is not shy about asking to be petted and will push quite hard with her head in my hand to get some stroking and caressing. Her fur coat has one of the most wonderful textures I have ever felt and it is a very soothing experience to softly rub her head and back. Fun both for her and for me....reciprocal pleasure is hard to beat.
I did a little web-surfing to look into "breeders" and found that we human animals begin early to learn that living beings are property.
May 22, 2008-Tattoed 9 bunn-bunns.I copied the above writing from a website apparently maintained by a little girl who is in 4-H and appears to be anywhere from 9 to 12 years old. She also writes on her website:
May 26, 2008 Re-tattoed buns, this time we rubbed extra ink in really good over the tattoo punctures. Hopefully we got it deep enough this time.....
Think small fuzzy bunnies!All sounds terrific, great and wonderful right? Teaching children, encouraging children...yadda, yadda, yadda. What they are being taught is that rabbit people are property, you can mutilate them (cut their ears with no anesthesia, then rub ink in the cuts...tattooing), breed them, sell them and/or their babies...they are yours to do with what you want. For instance the little girl later writes:
This is the home of Annie's 4-H rabbit project.
The historic chicken house on our
Oklahoma Centennial Farm has been converted into Annie's Rabbitry.
My Goal: To raise lovable, quality show rabbits.
Sept. 18, 2008- K.K. got 1st runner up at State! Justice died of wool block, and I am so sad. <:( I sold all my for sale bunnys this week right after I put up new photos.She is sad about Justice dying, but sells other rabbits. When I read stuff like this, I substitute the year (think 1808 instead of 2008) and the living being, think human slave instead of rabbit slave. Instead of rabbit animals for her 4-H project, she is raising human animals....they are property and she can do what she wants to with them. Tattoo them, breed them, sell them and/or their children.
She is doing this in conjunction with a national organization called 4-H, this group tell us on their website:
4-H is a positive youth development organization that empowers young people to reach their full potential......The indoctrination that all animals except human animals are property (and you only have to step back 7 or 8 generations to discover that human animals are property too) starts early, is pervasive and thorough and children are rapidly socialized out of notions that any animal has a right to their own life.
Children are taught to ignore the pain (tattooing is extremely painful for the rabbit...as it would be for anyone else) of living beings, taught that living beings are objects to be manipulated, controlled, "bred", sold, bought, locked up, exploited.....and on and on.........so young people can reach their "full potential".
Tips for "breeders" abound on the internet. For instance at this website the activity of "culling" is addressed:
As you produce rabbits, your goal will be to select the quality rabbits from your litters and cull the rest. There is that dreaded word 'cull', which so many think means 'kill'. Culling means removing rabbits from your herd, often by way of sales or other means.....Ah, the gift of language. This writer obviously is squeamish about acknowledging what "cull" means when they write about it....the squeamishness doesn't change what they do, just what they say about it. Remember, "other means" covers a multitude of options.
Another "breeder" is a little less afflicted with euphemism-itis, they write:
As a breeder of show rabbits, I cannot keep every single rabbit that is born in my barn. I keep only the ones that are show quality. I try to pet out as many as I can (will talk about that later) but there are so many people selling pet bunnies, it’s not possible to sell all your non-show quality rabbits as pets. Luckily we have a place here that actually raises snakes, all kinds and sizes from the tiniest ones to the huge Boa Constrictors! We raise rabbits, they raise snakes! The larger snakes can eat a very large rabbit! We take our rabbits that we don’t want to keep and can’t sell as pets to this place. We get paid for them! I don’t know how they feed the snakes and I don’t want to know......Just as long as he gets paid, he doesn't want to know.......good isn't it that he is "sensitive".
I am told some folks take a baby rabbit that doesn't look quite right (wrong coloring, etc) and simply smash their heads up against a wall or some other method of killing...that is what "cull" often means. At Lagomorphs.com they write:
Culling is a euphemism for killing the babies who did not turn out as desired. Breeders usually cull any rabbit who is actually physically deformed. Many also cull those with treatable problems like malocclusion or those who are the weakest. Some breeders cull a rabbit just because he has “imperfect” markings for the breed!Ah, youth of America, if he isn't marked right....kill him (or her).
Well, Darla made it through the cull, survived to adulthood, had babies, escaped, was attacked and injured by a dog, ended up in a shelter that was preparing to kill her and now she is at Heartland.
She is a reminder of the costs involved in young people reaching their "full potential", costs that Darla and her babies paid....not the parents of the youth or the youth themselves. She is a reminder that lives are considered to be property by most human animals....and what a horror that is for the "property".
She is a reminder that sometimes, just sometimes, our victims get lucky and end up in a place where she....if she doesn't find a forever home...can live out her life with as much comfort and care and love as the folks out at HRR can provide.
Breeder....is a euphemism....for someone that is practicing disgusting activities for their own profit....at the expense of innocent lives. Darla thinks breeders suck........I concur.
Never, ever, ever, ever support in any way, shape or form the activities of "breeders", no matter what kind of life they are "breeding"....bunny, dog, cat, chicken, cow, sheep, etc...... Breeders are parasites that steal the lives of others for their own profit.
I have no words to adequately express my repugnance concerning these behaviors. Neither does Darla.
5 comments:
Thank you VE for telling Darla's story. She and all the other bunnies thank you too. It is not a pretty story and you likely will not have a group of youngsters gathered around listening to your every word. Well, maybe a crowd for a little bit, but the story will grow dark and the realization sinks in that it won't have a happy ending. We should say though that there are a few youngsters that have stayed to hear the end of the awful stories and have done something about that. They are the future champions that will tell the animals' stories. Here are a few very young ones that I have met and place much hope in: Jake, Hannah, Emily, Sarah,Jackson and others whose names escape me at the moment.Thanks to them and their parents who guided them the animals have hope. We must keep hoping.
Jeannie
Darla is a lovely girl. As far as breeders? Tango and Mojo came from a backyard breeder before I was exposed to the world of bunny rescue and the horrors inflicted on bunnies. I was completely disgusted when I walked into that yard that day. I wont go into it. I am just glad my girls are with me and I will never patronize a breeder again.
Thanks Murph's mom and Christina for commenting. Indeed, hope is important and necessary.
Christina, I am glad your girls are with you too.
Darla looks sweet. I don't know that much about rabbits, so was wondering about the double chin. Why do they get them after multiple litters? Maybe it's obvious, but I don't quite get the connection, snort. And is it uncomfortable for them?
Thanks for commenting SITOGV. Darla is very much a sweetie...she craves affection often and will stretch out to her full height when asking for some petting. The double chin is properly called a dewlap and it is speculated they develop in order to facilitate the female being able to pull fur from the skin on her neck for nest building. As far as I know, unless there is some injury or infection, the dewlap isn't uncomfortable.
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