Dumb neighbors turned their rabbits loose!

[chinbunny1]

This is one of the reasons why I never recommend letting your rabbits run loose. Because I ended up dealing with neighbors last week, that made their mess my, and the cities problem. According to the other neighbors, these rabbits had been running free for about six weeks or so. Established a small, feral colony, had babies, tunneled under the neighbors houses, and ate their gardens. A couple of weeks ago, a small group of these rabbits came across a busy highway, onto our property to eat our garden. It took me several hours to get my hands on at least three of them. Two more took off across the road. Called the police to report them. At first we thought someone had abandoned them in the yard. Next day I took one across the road, to see if the neighbors were missing any. Turned out they belonged to a family just across the road from me. They had them in cages that were covered with chicken fence instead of galvanized wire. Said they decided they didn't want them any more after they got out, and said to keep anything that comes across the road, that they wanted to get rid of what was running around. And they were shooting at them with a rifle to kill them, in town! in the meantime turned out the one bunny I had caught belonged to a neighbor kid. I ended up giving him back. Or actually they traded him for another they caught right on the spot, and gave to me. Poor rabbit wa sput in a filthy dirty caged, that they said they would clean(yeah right, it sat there out in the open for a couple of days. You could see the poop buildup from the road). Rabbit they gave me was their breeding buck that was running loose. Poor animal has been traumatized ever since they caught him, and has shown signs of agression, because of them being mean to him. I found one bunny a really good home. The same day I got rid of him, I noticed the neighbors rabbits running loose in their yard. With their owner, sitting on the porch, smoking and watching them. He hearded them to the backyard when he saw me approaching. I asked him if she still wanted to get rid of what was there in front of him. He said no, that they wanted to keep these, and sell them in their yard sale that weekend. Didn't bother catching them. I went across the road, only to discover one of their brown rabbits, running loose behind our garage. I phoned the police on them. I know the guy that made the visit. He is also an animal lover, and understood that feral rabbits can be a problem if they get out of control. He was not very happy about the situation. He looked at our garden, looked at the rabbit running loose(still behind the garage), went yeah thats def not a wild one, and took a look at what we had already caught. Then he went and paid the neighbors a visit, and was down there for some time. Next morning I filed my second complaint with the city. Since it was also on record with the police, they sent them a letter stating they had better take care of the situation or else. I think they made them get rid of all of them. The cages were hauled out with rabbits in them. I think they shot the ones that were running loose. They have disappeared. I haven't seen a single one since monday morning.

In the meantime I have managed to get cages for the remaining three rabbits. They were very, very scared at first. One of them has really done an about face. He wants to be held all the time, and nothing but love. had him out in one of my yard pens a couple of days, and all he wanted was love, to be petted and held, every time I walked by. Almost ike he was thanking me for saving his life. Kind of put a burden on me because my cages were already full, and they had to live in carriers till I could get something for them. The old breeding buck won't let me touch him at all. Honestly, I think they were very, very mean to him. The most he will do is come up and sniff my hand. I haven't tried touching him that much since he has tried to bite me. figured Id give him a chance, and let him come around on his own. I know I should have them processed, but, I think Id rather give them a chance after what they have been put through. Plus the very loving one has already grown on me.

This is the first time I have had to clean up someone else mess. This is why people shouldn't let their rabbits "free range" by turning them loose. It only ends up as a burden to the neighbors. They are the ones that end up cleaning the mess up! And I am not the only person that complained, and tried to catch them either! My neighbor across the road lost her garden to these animals. another will have to deal with the damage they did to their vacant house. I hated reporting them. Now because of them there is the possible chance we may be facing rabbits included in the ordinance soon. Ther eis already some drama revolving around the poultry part of it. Rabbits may be included since they know someone violated the ordinance we already have on livestock, since they were kept where they bothering the neighbors.

EDit: The neighborhood dogs also killed four that were running loose. Nieghbor guy found two chewed up in his yard. My cousins dog got the other two. He could figure out where they came from.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

It bothers me SO MUCH when people don't take responsibility for their animals.

The animals suffer and the responsible folks get slapped with legislation. I doubt the legislation helps anyway since the people don't even have common decency to begin with.

I have to deal with pet dogs roaming in packs and a neighbor who had four litters of kittens at the same time -- there will be an astronomical number if those survive to breed.

I HATE being unkind to animals, but when a mother cat brought her kittens to our guinea keets to teach them to hunt, I allowed my dog to chase off the mama and terrorize (not hurt, he never touched them) the kittens in the hopes she will stay out of my poultry. And I have had to scare the dogs half to death too, but I don't want dead goats or llamas.

Sigh .... It IS frustrating. And gardens take a LOT of work and I count on mine to decrease my food bill.

 

[ksalvagno]

Obviously people who shouldn't own animals. Personally, I think "letting" them run loose was an excuse not to properly care for them. Hopefully they will never own another rabbit.

 

[TigerLilly]

Wouldn't that be some sort of animal nuisance? Seems to me animal control should be giving out fines for uncontrolled animals. The lack of intelligence of some critter owners still amazes me sometimes!

 

[TheSheepGirl]

The funny, or not so funny, thing is that one of my nieghbors has free range rabbits. This all started last year when I saw a loose rabbit. I tried my darndest to catch it and it ran to the neighbor's house. When he saw me and the rabbit he came out and started to yell some rather profane things at me because it was his rabbit. He live a block away from me. I simply informed him that it was illegal to have any animal other than a cat that is running loose.

Well, that was a year ago and I am still having to deal with these rabbits. I found a nest last month. All of these babies were dead as soon as they could hop( we also have a rather large cat problem here too.) I have caught any that have come my way and found them homes. All of them were infected with earmites and a raher nasty yeast infection went through last spring. One of my bunnies died from this infection that he got from those wild rabbits. I breed cali's and champagnes which I paid a lot of money for, so it sucked.

I have called animal control and all they did was do a drive by and the rabbits were in the man's yard at the time.

Really all that can be done is to put up a good fence around your gardens and to set a few live traps. I have found that hay works really well as bait.

 

[Beekissed]

I kinda wish these were MY neighbors.....my cat is running out of wild rabbits around here. They are simply his favorite food ever!

I've heard of people just turning rabbits loose when they no longer want them and it always makes me wonder why in the world they got them in the first place? A tame rabbit isn't equipped to live outdoors by itself...at least, not for long.

Sort of along the lines of folks who let predation and illness kill their flocks of chickens because they don't have the nerve to kill them when they no longer want them.

I met a lady who told me that one day...I offered to take the flock off her hands and make some soup. She acted like I was a monster....said she would rather they died "naturally".

What the heck is natural about a domestic animal being neglected so badly that wild animals tear them apart or they suffer illnesses and finally die?

 

[savingdogs]

I live near a very small town and someone has free range rabbits, you see them hopping across the road on a quiet early morning. I cannot imagine that they are not getting run over, no matter how small our town is.