Craig’s List bunnies

[Megabunny]

Hello,

Well, I started my year by stupidly looking on Craig’s List. Wow! How depressing those pictures are. The first one was 5 rabbits that looked like they were living under a porch with upended food dishes, icy snow and lots of droppings all over. The guy wanted $5 each, and I wrote a nice e-mail saying I couldn’t take them, but if he showed proof of surrendering them to the local shelter (no-kill, well taken care of), I would send him his $25. The bunnies were quickly removed from the list after that, and now I don’t kinow if someone else stepped in to help or if they are still there. I’m tyring to take comfort in the fact that I’ve read here recently that they are OK in the cold.

Then there’s the guy with picures of 2 beautifully-marked bunnies, 8 months old, and he wanted $40 each w/ cage, which the one pictured had a bunny in a wire cage sitting on a piece of wood that appears to be the only resting board/ potty spot combined. No hutch or hay visitble. I sent him a note and he told me they were well cared for and would be until they had found homes. I told him noone’s going to pay him $40 apiece for those and told him of the local shelter and a rescue group. I don’t want to tax the system of animal rescue, but this is breaking my heart.

Oh, and then there are the people who are starting a rabbit facility and they can breed all sorts of rabbits for you. Just let them know if you’re looking for meat or pet. Gee, why don’t they breed a few puppies while they’re at it?

Really wish I could take a lot more bunies. It’s so wrong. And now Easter is coming. I’ve written to the local feed store imploring them not to breed bunnies for Easter and suggested they team up with the shelter in trying to find homes for those bunnies, the way some of the pet stores in the area do. But I haven’t heard back yet.

Well, if you’ve actually gotten through this whole letter, thanks for listening. I know you people will understand. My husband understands, but says I can’t save them all. I want to try, though. I don’t routinely go on Craig’s List and I should stay off altogether. The four I have are keeping me as busy as I can handle (when I’m not on break like I am now)

So many bunnies, so little time

MB

[Bam]

It really is sad, I try to stay off the Swedish equivalent of Craig’s List, it makes me so sad to see the “discarded” bunnies. I can’t take on more pets of any kind, so I have to just take as good care as possible of the ones I’ve got. At least I’ve saved my two bunny-boys, but I know there are thousands more that need saving =(

In Sweden we’ve never had the Easter-bunny-tradition, thankfully. It’s very good of you to try and persuade shops not to breed bunnies for Easter. There ought to be some good-will in it for a feed-store to team up with shelters I’d think. Animals are not toys!

[LongEaredLions]

Craigslist has a no-breeder rule, you are not allowed to sell animals. You can rehome an animal with a small rehoming fee (to ensure the safety of the animal) but you are not allowed to intentionally breed and sell. I personally flag any breeder that I find. On another forum I am on, they have a whole forum dedicated to the flagging of Craigslist breeders. The theory behind this is if we can get the breeding ads taken down, the real rehoming adds will shine through, and the breeders may figure out that they are neither wanted nor allowed on Craigslist. If they can’t advertise on Craigslist, their potential buyers may go down and they may breed less or none at all. I also send emails to people, reminding them to charge a small fee so their pet won’t become snake food. It is very sad, the conditions we see the animals in, and we do everything we can to stop the cruelty.

[Megabunny]

Excellent idea! I’m going to check into flagging those people. Thanks a MILLION!

[Tessie]

Yeah, has anyone hard of the site Preloved? I don’t know if it’s just a UK site or not.
But it’s like Craigslist I think.
Anyway, lots of people selling pets and giving them away on there. They have a whole section of the website for pets.
The name of the site makes it so much more depressing. Preloved: pets.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I check kijiji sometimes too (Canada’s Craiglist). I really shouldn’t because I can’t take in anymore pets. It’s very sad how many animals are unwanted and the stupid reasons people get rid of them just blows my mind. Especially the ones that start “Bought this bunny for my 3 year old….”

I try to stay positive by thinking of all the animal lovers there are out there as well. I have lots of animal lovers type groups on FB and it can really lift your spirits to see that there are a lot of people who do care and treat animals like family.

[bunnytowne]

lpt that sounds uplifting the fb thing you mentioned.  

discarded pets it is so sad

[Zombie-Sue]

The CL in my area isn’t bad. For the most part, the breeders and people rehoming are both good to their buns.

There’s one I keep looking at, but it says she’s possibly pregnant. I can’t have baby rabbits on my hands lol.

[justwildbeat]

As LEL mentioned Craigslist revised their policy on selling pets. Should be for rehoming or adoptions, so just flag those posts. Back when I was looking for a pet, all of the local CL listings were from rescues and adoption centers. So I took that as a good sign.

[DaisyBunz]

This here is UPSETTING!!!! I found this on Craigslist as well. 

“All white, 8 month old floppy eared bunny (Casper) needs a family that can give him lots of attention. We just don’t have the time to play with him and he looks so lonely in his cage. He loves to be held and played with, would be very good for childs’ first pet. I would be willing to give him up for free.”

 A CHILD’S pet???!! Rabbits are not children’s pets. PERIOD.

Then I found this:

“We are looking for a new home for our pet rabbit. Great with kids. Grey and white. 1 yr old. Comes with large bag of food, hay and large bag of sawdust.  Perfect for day care or young children, or rabbit lover. We just bought it a new cage. You can have that too. We are just looking for a loving home for our Lucy to go to. Rabbit has not been spayed.”

I just love it how they give no real reason why they are getting rid of the rabbit.

Even if they did, this is still so WRONG.

Oh and…guys:

Easter’s coming around the corner, and you will see me putting these pictures everywhere…… here’s a nice one I just found hanging around my Downloads section of the computer.

I LOVE this website! Go check it out, people.

[Megabunny]

This is fantastic DB. I’m going to check into that web site and even see if the local papers would be willing to run a copy of that poster!  I did flag the “breeder” on CL who offered to breed whatever you wanted. They were looking for donations of cages toward their new venture as well. And they are talking about selling their “pets” for $10.  Well, yeah, who doesn’t think babies are cute but wow! That is soo awful. With Easter approaching I think it’s a great time for us to pursue this community education about rabbits.  Oh, and I never heard back from the feed store so I’m going to work on a a letter to the owner. Don’t know if it will do any good, but his daughter is a local vet, so who knows?  One of their other stores, probably not same owner, in a different town was brought up charges because someone caught them releasing an injured rabbit outside!  I’d like to personally congratulate whoever that was !

MB

[LongEaredLions]

Posted By Megabunny on 01/03/2014 12:24 PM

  One of their other stores, probably not same owner, in a different town was brought up charges because someone caught them releasing an injured rabbit outside!  I’d like to personally congratulate whoever that was !

MB

Releasing an injured rabbit outside! You get a rabbit, injure it in some fashion, then, right when the bunny needs you most, you leave it outside to DIE? How could people do that? I might be sick!

[Eepster]

Posted By DaisyBunz on 01/03/2014 11:43 AM

This here is UPSETTING!!!! I found this on Craigslist as well. 

“All white, 8 month old floppy eared bunny (Casper) needs a family that can give him lots of attention. We just don’t have the time to play with him and he looks so lonely in his cage. He loves to be held and played with, would be very good for childs’ first pet. I would be willing to give him up for free.”

 A CHILD’S pet???!! Rabbits are not children’s pets. PERIOD.

Many of us have children.  Many of those children consider the house rabbit theirs.  Heck some of the poster on this board are still just teenagers themselves and are doing an excellent job caring for their bunnies.

Adults can be bad pet keepers and children can be excellent ones.  Age isn’t the issue.  A general sense of responsibility, compassion and basic decency are the issues.  Sadly many adults seem to lack those traits, they make lousy pet owners.  Generally if a child is going to be a lousy pet owner, it is b/c of the adult parent, who is the one who says yes or no to getting a rabbit.  The parent is the one who fails to teach, support and guide the child in being a good pet keeper. 

While obviously very young children will need a great deal of guidance and supervision, and ultimately the adults of the house are responsible to make sure the bunny is properly cared for, there is no reason a child should not be given the opportunity to have a bunny.  

Porky became my son’s bunny when my son was 5yo.  Porky has been with us over 2 1/2 years now.  He is well fed, loved, has a spacious custom built condo, and sees his vet regularly.  In addition to all those basic things he gets the joy of a child who will sit and read books to him, plays piano to him, pretends to be a bunny with him, and all sorts of other things pretty much only children would want to do to entertain their beloved bunny friend.

So, no.  A rabbit can be a great child’s pet as long as adults are willing to help them.

[Lady Ananke]

I Honestly try and stay away from craigslist when coming to animals at all, (Not just bunnies). I always end up feeling so sad (It’s how we ended up with 4 dogs and 5 cats at one time, taking them in, feeding them, getting them shots/fixed and finding them furever homes, All while living in my 2 bedroom apartment ). I actually went on there the other day when I got Chloe, to look for cages (thinking about buying a few used onces and making her large cage out of them).

And I see tons of posts like..

My 9 months old bunny needs a new home since we’re moving out soon.
He’s friendly, active and fun! Good with other animals and kids. Can stay both indoor and outdoor. We really need to find him a new home since we’re moving out.
$50 for the adoption fee OBO. We give you the bunny, the cage and a bag of rabbit food.
Thank you for your interest and please email .

The $50 I would so be willing to pay for a bunny, But when I see OBO, it just seems to me like they got sick of the poor thing and want some money for him.
It makes me sad, I wish I could afford to just adopt all the homeless bunnies in the world.

[Deleted User]

As some may know (or not, it doesn’t matter) my son has a disability and he is child like – guess what, my Henry hangs out with my son the most (& the hubby on occasion, cause he’s the treat giver – naughty hubby) cause my son was taught how to interact with Henry. He has to wait for Henry to approach ‘him’, don’t do this and that…. and because of this they have the best relationship. My son is ‘loud’ but knows he has to be quiet (or at least quieter than usual) around Henry or he’ll run away. That was all down to us (parents) teaching him along with supervision and correction when necessary. The only time I would never recommend a bunny for a child is if the parent wasn’t up to commitment (and I use the word commitment, cause there’s a lot involved – or ‘I’ think there is). I’d hate to think I ‘shouldn’t’ have Henry because of my son? And most importantly – I’d hate for Henry not to have us! (Spoilt Rabbit!). My son is so gentle with Henry, and on occasion asks Henry is he’s ok? How sweet! I love that my son cares for this little bunny called Henry! (Even though he may have had to learn to do so). Cheers.

PS – Good on you all for doing what you can to stop the CL listings.

And DB – love the poster!

[Megabunny]

Our CL has someone w/ 3 mo. old bunnies belonging to college students who apparently figured out fast how much work buns can be! So sad!

I was, however, warmed by AndHenry because I work w/ special needs children and see how much they can learn with the right guidance.  Animals are great pet therapy aren’t they? My daughter is in college and they bring dogs in during finals for the kids to cuddle with. She also works a Musc. Dystrophy camp and thinks they might enjoy our Giant Chin., Gus, for a day. I could bring him and an Xpen and stay with him and help the kids pet him. Some of them are mentally disabled as well as the MD I really hope we can do that this summer.

back to work today after 2 week school break.  I’ll miss my bunnies!

[kcomstoc]

I saw a craigslist the other day (I can’t help looking since I’m waiting for my second bunny) it said 1 yr old bunny to a loving home because they recently adopted 2 saint bernards and there were space problems and the bunny was getting stressed out from interactions with the dogs……*forehead smack* really? there are space restrictions with 2 saint bernards? I wouldn’t know that. Also that bunny was your first pet and now that you got those 2 saint bernards you don’t need that bunny anymore. I can’t believe people are so heartless. Also the cage it was in was a pet store cage very small I’m guessing the rabbit is going to stay in there until it goes to it’s new home.

[calipa_st]

I adopted one of my cats off craigslist, craziest experience ever…I went to the apartment…she literally must have had 50 cats in her apartment. Definitely a hoarder. I was very young and naive, just got my kitten and booked it. I should have called animal control

Also, re: kids and rabbits. The rescue I got Lucky from made sure I was the one that wanted a rabbit and not just getting it for the children, since a lot of rehoming is because parents do not know what goes into owning a rabbit. It was mainly for me, and I did lots of research before even getting him so there were no issues. My children are 3.5 and 6 years old. The 3.5yo is Lucky’s second favorite in the family, he’s the one he runs to for pettings if I’m not available lol. My 6yo is gentle, but has always been wary of animals in general (farm animals really freak him out lol) But, he pets, and is gentle. It has also been a great thing to teach him responsibility…as he has gotten more closer to Lucky..he now knows that Lucky needs three varieties of greens a day, hay, pellets…he will give Lucky his greens and help me get him into his ex pen when it’s time to go out.
My boys are loud, and we do have a small apartment. Lucky doesn’t mind loudness at all, he actually comes running from under the bed if the boys start wrestling and starts chasing them around lol They know to be careful, never hit…and they know to “thump” if Lucky starts biting the wall or books or toys.. I think kids can be great with rabbits as long as you teach them to be good owners. Just like dogs or cats… animals have personalities and you just have to cope with it once you get the pet (like, one of my cats is not a “people person” the other is. Just how they are!)

[justwildbeat]

The issue isn’t that rabbits are inappropriate pets for children. Just misinformed and unprepared adults who are surprised that live rabbits don’t act as cuddly stuffed animals. Also that’s a great Easter poster DB.

[Hazel]

Posted By Eepster on 01/06/2014 01:01 AM

So, no.  A rabbit can be a great child’s pet as long as adults are willing to help them.

That’s the main issue, adults have to be involved. When people say that rabbits aren’t appropriate pets for children, I don’t think they mean that a household with children is not an appropriate home for a bunny. There’s nothing wrong with rabbits and children living together as long as the adults teach the kids how to interact with them properly. Just like Eepster and AndHenry did with their children.

Sadly a lot of people view rabbits as “easy” pets, cuddly and quiet. Perfect to put in their child’s bedroom for their amusement and to “teach them responsibility”. They think taking care of a rabbit requires little more than throwing a handful of food in the cage once a day. What kid couldn’t handle that? They don’t realize that rabbits are high maintenance pets and an adult has to be responsible for their care at all times, but that doesn’t mean kids and rabbits can’t have wonderful relationships.

[Tsuki]

@DaisyBunz – I just checked out this website and I am definitely going to post flyers and maybe do a letter to the editor in my area to spread awareness. I customer at my work had overheard me talking about my bunnies and had made mention of selling rabbits on the street corners around Easter. I politely informed him that, unfortunately, not many people know how to care for bunnies (unless they’ve had one or actually want one) and took my leave. Thank you so much for making me aware of this website/campaign!!!

Posted By DaisyBunz on 01/03/2014 11:43 AM

Oh and…guys:

Easter’s coming around the corner, and you will see me putting these pictures everywhere…… here’s a nice one I just found hanging around my Downloads section of the computer.

I LOVE this website! Go check it out, people.

[DaisyBunz]

I totally agree. We teach our kids to be gentle with the rabbit and ALWAYS supervise supervise SUPERVISE!!! A household with kids is not a bad place for a bunny to live. But none of our rabbits are ” the kid’s pets.” The buns are a part of the family. I disagree with an adult deciding to get a rabbit for their 2 year old for Easter. Hazel, you certainly said it well. There’s tons of articles I could list out that are saying how rabbits are good pets for kids and yadda yadda yadda. There are also non-bunny websites with articles against Easter Bunnies(yay!). Here, for example. http://voices.yahoo.com/the-easter-bunny-silly-parents-rabbits-arent-kids-854757.html

Megabunny and Tzuki, I’m so glad I could be of help. I love that website! There’s COUNTLESS rabbit advocacy memes just like that here: http://www.bunyaboy.blogspot.com/p/bunny-advocay.html

(The link is NOT my blog, it’s a great bunny lover with blogging talent! All credits go to that person.)

I’m so glad you are doing that, Tzuki. Good for you! 

[Zombie-Sue]

Posted By Eepster on 01/06/2014 01:01 AM

Many of us have children.  Many of those children consider the house rabbit theirs.  Heck some of the poster on this board are still just teenagers themselves and are doing an excellent job caring for their bunnies.

Adults can be bad pet keepers and children can be excellent ones.  Age isn’t the issue.  A general sense of responsibility, compassion and basic decency are the issues.  Sadly many adults seem to lack those traits, they make lousy pet owners.  Generally if a child is going to be a lousy pet owner, it is b/c of the adult parent, who is the one who says yes or no to getting a rabbit.  The parent is the one who fails to teach, support and guide the child in being a good pet keeper. 

While obviously very young children will need a great deal of guidance and supervision, and ultimately the adults of the house are responsible to make sure the bunny is properly cared for, there is no reason a child should not be given the opportunity to have a bunny.  

Porky became my son’s bunny when my son was 5yo.  Porky has been with us over 2 1/2 years now.  He is well fed, loved, has a spacious custom built condo, and sees his vet regularly.  In addition to all those basic things he gets the joy of a child who will sit and read books to him, plays piano to him, pretends to be a bunny with him, and all sorts of other things pretty much only children would want to do to entertain their beloved bunny friend.

So, no.  A rabbit can be a great child’s pet as long as adults are willing to help them.

Age isn’t the issue, it’s an issue. The confusion lies in what constitutes a “child’s pet”and the amount of work involved with rabbits.

 It’s great that you call Porky your son’s rabbit, but the fact is, you aren’t helping your son take care of the rabbit, he is helping you. A five year old can’t be trusted to clean the cage as often as needed, and certainly shouldn’t be handling knives and chopping his vegetables. It wouldn’t even be fair to expect a five year old to do that. They can play with rabbits just fine, but the actual work is mostly an adult’s responsibility in the case of young children.

What many adults think of when they think of a child’s pet is a hamster who will only live about 2 years and mostly keeps to himself, or a goldfish, lol. They think, great, I’ll get a baby rabbit, my child can clean it’s cage every six months if I force him to and rabbits probably love to cuddle.

Obviously, anyone with at least half a brain can determine if their child is ready to interact with a rabbit, and these people might even call the rabbit his pet, but they are also rational enough to know that the rabbit is really their pet, too. These (you) aren’t the people we’re talking to when we say “rabbits aren’t pets for children.” Just the fact that you’re on a forum shows you know what’s going on.

[Sarita]

I never ever look at Craigslist for any animal ever.

I will tell you I used to volunteer at a rabbit rescue and answered the phone messages and called a lady back who wanted to give up her guinea pig because her 3 year old was not properly taking care of him and she had got the guinea pig to teach her 3 year old responsibility – ummm….a 3 year old can not even take care of themselves much less any pet. But it wasn’t the first dump call ever received because someone’s child was bored with the rabbit or didn’t take care of the rabbit – that’s just bad parenting in my opinion or poor judgement on a parent’s part (but you know I’m not a parent either so it’s also just a judgement on my part since I have no idea about parenting but I am quick to make judgements I guess about parents…kind of hypocritical on my part).

[Eepster]

Sarita, I’m a parent and I don’t think your judgement is at all misplaced. Expecting a 3 yo to actually care for a piggy is developmentally inappropriate. Then giving away said piggy instead of caring for it is cruel to both the child and piggy.

Zombie-Sue, I guess if you are going to define it that way, Porky is my bunny not my son’s bunny. I will admit I do about 60% of actual bunny care, and of the other 40%, my husband does about 35% of it, leaving only about 5% to our now 7yo child.

My son really thinks of Porky as his though. My son did get the option to rename Porky when we got him (we ended up staying with his shelter given name.) During hurricanes Irene and Sandy when we put Porky in his small cage in case we had to evacuate he spent the night next to my son’s bed not mine. He does more of the petting and playing with Porky than either me or my husband. He takes the most photos.

[Zombie-Sue]

No doubt, I’m sure he’s formed a really deep bond with the rabbit, too.

[Deleted User]

Just going back to ‘Sarita’s comment’ (which I totally get and agree with, who cares if she is a parent or not, her thought process is spot on!). How could a parent introduce a pet (new family addition/member), and then ‘just’ take it away? Punishment for “your not looking after it, so it’s going”? How does a young child comprehend that? My goodness! So does a child learn if it’s all too hard, just get rid of it? Now I get why all the shelters are full of disregarded pets. (I always wondered why so many???? I get it now, and I’m a grown grown up, how naive/stupid was I?). My kids have always had pets – called theirs, but “I” am ultimately responsible, as a parent I didn’t think that was too hard to work out. To this day we have a ‘dog’ Frank that belongs to my youngest son (not Blair) and is 21 and talks constantly of moving out (yer right – I wish) and guess what, he is not taking Frank! We won’t let him – my son won’t spoil him to the standard that we do, ha hah! When Henry was first bought home – I was so overwhelmed and upon sharing this with my son’s girlfriend her response was so simple (I still can’t get over it – no pets for them) are you gonna get rid of him? Once I recovered, I said no! “If I found committing to something ‘not perfect’ to hard I would have got rid of my younger son (her boyfriend) years ago!”. Sadly she didn’t laugh…..
Then I found BB and am no longer overwhelmed by Henry (as I say this I just had to stop and pick up the dog food again – WHY????? Grrrr! Lol, naughty bunny – still!). As Sarita also mentioned above, she doesn’t even look at C/L – I get that too. We agreed when we are ready for another dog we’d like to get one from the RSPCA. Not that I have admitted this to the hubby, but I am worried? How do you choose one and leave others behind? To sum up – I just don’t get it?

Edit/Add – Sorry if I gave the wrong impression regarding my younger son and the dog Frank – I just think at 21 moving out, he won’t give Frank the companionship that he used too at home being 9 years old and I worry that if he moves out with the girlfriend (& I don’t know this, ‘I am’ (sorry)  jumping the gun in relation to her ‘Henry’ comment.). Better for Frank to stay home….

[Megabunny]

And Henry, scary to see your son with someone who’s so callous about animals. My son’s girlfriend (at 19) suggested I just put my 10 year old bunny down because he was so broken down at that point ( but didn’t seem to be at THAT point yet. ) I never forgot that comment, either, though I’ve been told that’s the norm for college kid attitude. It just hits way too close to the heart. They are still together and I know my son would like a dog some day. Ugh!

[Deleted User]

Megabunny – bloody girlfriends! Ha ha hah! Why couldn’t our sons pick perfect girlfriends, just like their mothers! Even funnier….. Cheers!

[Author]

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