HAS ANYONE RESUED A MEAT RABBIT

[Annmaree]

Hello everyone,

I have only been on this forum for about a month but I am enjoying my time here reading about  everyones bunnies..

I adopted my bunny Billy from a breeder who bred rabbits to be eaten *MEAT RABBITS*

He is a Giant Flemish and was 10 weeks old when I got him. He is soo cute and super friendly.

I have never had a Flemish before so I am looking forward to see how big he gets.

My 5 year old daughter picked him out of a litter of about 8 bunnies who were all cramped in a tiny cage awaiting their fate.

As where older litters and new born litters all waiting to be sold for food and probably their fur.

I would of loved to have taken all of them, but i’m extremely happy with giving Billy a new free range life.

When the lady handed me our bunny she said to the rabbit, your a lucky bunny.

Billy Bunny is now 16 weeks old and hes very spoilt. He loves to be patted and held. Loves free ranging running around our enclosed backyard. Where he helps himself to the vegie garden and he binkies non stop. Its like having a puppy, he follows you around and if you go outside and call him he comes running.

I have a thread on here called Watching Baby Billy Grow if anyone is interested in watching him grow.

Has anyone taken in a Meat Rabbit as their own pet or maybe helped rehome one or maybe you are a Flemish owner.. I would love to hear your story..

Thanks for reading..

Have attached some photos below..

[Annmaree]

[LongEaredLions]

He is so handsome! Lucky bunny indeed!

[redbunbun]

Both my rabbits Sukka (French lop) and Tossu (New Zealand Red) are also from meat rabbit breeders… though I don’t particularly want to call them “rescued” in this sense, as both breeders were very responsible and humane in their treatment of their rabbits, nothing like the awful conditions you’re describing! Neither of my bunbuns would have suffered with their breeders, though their lives would have been much shorter and Sukka’s medical issues may have caused her some problems in the long run.

[Annmaree]

Your bunnies are very sweet, I especially like the red, it’s a nice colour..
I think all breeders have different ways they breed and look after their bunnies. Whether they are meat rabbits or bred for pets. My meat rabbit came from small cramped cages, they don’t get handled, only time this happens is when they are moved from cage to cage. This is the first time I have seen breeding of meat rabbits, so I must admit I was a bit shocked when I walked into the shed. But I suppose this is farming.. Same thing happens to cows, chickens etc.. It’s just hard to see them as food when your a bunny lover

[Boing]

The humane society thinks that Cincinnati escaped from such an operation. Does that count? He was found as a stray.

I love your bunny’s ears!

[Annmaree]

Thanks Boing, he does have pretty big ears lol. Do you have another photo of Cincinnati, would love to see a close up photo of him

[Sarita]

He’s very pretty. I think a rabbit is a rabbit….I don’t think there is anything different from a meat rabbit or any other rabbits other than perhaps they are initially bred for nefarious reasons.

[Bahar]

I loveee the fourth photo…love the way he is moving…so cute…

[Annmaree]

Yes a rabbit is a rabbit……. Billy was bred to be eaten….. Now he is running free in our backyard…. And such a special boy……..

[BB & Tiny]

He is adorable !

Running free in the backyard ?

[Annmaree]

Yes we have a very secure backyard where Billy runs free during the day..

[Boing]

@Annmaree – there is a close-up photo of Cincinnati in the September pictures thread. It’s the only clear one I’ve ever gotten. He’s hard to photograph!

[vanessa]

My first 3 bunnies were bred for meat. Guinevere, Morgana, and Merlin. After Merlin went to Rainbow Bridge, I adopted Lancelot from the humane society. Merlin was just plain awesome. Morgana was very skittish. Still the shy-est of the lot. Guin can be quite grumpy, but she is super sweet and extremely snuggly. She and Merlin were the snugliet pair of bunnies I have ever seen. Lancelot is a sweet character himself. He demands his petting from me.

[Annmaree]

Hi Vanessa, what breed where your meat bunnies.. Is that them in your avatar.. Mine was a Flemish and he has the most sweetest layed back nature I have ever seen in a bunny. I have owned smaller bunnies before and they have been soo sweet too, but nothing compared to a Flemish, completely different..

[Annmaree]

Just found the thread.. Very cute, thanks Boing……….

[vanessa]

Yip, thats them in the avatar. Guin is a white california/new zealand mix. Merlin was a red new zealand. Morgana is a california/rex mix. They told me they were experimenting with that combination. I guess they bred her for a large fur rabbit. Lancelot who I adopted is a lop. I’ve never had a flemish giant. But 4 bunnies is enough…

[Jadeo09]

Heart breaking topic.
Lucky isn’t a word of give to an animal being given the right to live I’d call it normal. It’s the other ones that aren’t lucky but deprived.
There is no humane way to murder anything.
Nice to hear some are saved

[Annmaree]

Yes i’m so grateful I got to give one a great home, but left so many behind..

[Jadeo09]

It’s the world that’s wrong not you you can’t save them all if you did all your rabbits would suffer because you couldn’t afford them all.
I could have gone near and left them though. So I understand your pain.
I suppose if you had lots of money you could have bought them all nd dropped them off at an animal shelter at least hey would have a more humane end and wouldn’t be cut up and eaten.
I wish I didn’t live on the same planet as the monsters we call humans .not all at bad though.

[vanessa]

Devil’s advocate… when we buy a meat rabbit, aren’t we just keeping them in business?

[Annmaree]

My reduced price of $20 might keep them in business, but at least he won’t be on someone’s dinner plate..

[Jadeo09]

Well no because if they make money from selling as pets maybe they will see its more productive and convert.
But yes I wouldn’t want to give them money because then they can buy more to cause suffering to.
Catch 22

[Annmaree]

This breeder had 3 females and 1 male.
I didn’t know she was breeding them for eating. I was just looking to buy a Flemish bunny for my daughter. I received an email from a lady saying she had some Flemish babies if I wanted to come see them. When my daughter picked out what bunny she wanted and was holding him, I gave the owner $20 and she then told me she breeds them to sell for meat..
I didn’t purposely go searching for a meat rabbit breeder. I was just looking for a bunny for my daughter.. And no there was no bunnies at my local shelter as that was the first place I called..
And he’s not on your dinner plate he’s running around free in my backyard..

[vanessa]

Just a thought. I do love my bunnies. I wouldn’t swap them or “un”-buy them . I’m glad they are in my care and not on a dinner plate. I didn’t search for a meat rabbit breeder either. When I first got my bunnies, I was quite the newbie. I got my rabbits from 2 different places. Not knowing much at the time, I just thought, wow – lots of rabbits and lots of cages. Now that I’ve had more time with my bunnies, I realize how horrible their lives must have been, in those small cages.

[Jadeo09]

Every life is just as important as another and each life you save is worth it. You aren’t killing one to save another you are saving whoever you can. Therefore nothing to be guilty for. They are the murderers not you

[drwil]

Not exactly a meat rabbit but a lionhead bunny who someone wanted to shave down and live feed to a “pet” snake. Took it to live with my parent’s elderly cat until a little girl with downs syndrome was given him as a therapy animal.

[Roy]

My uncle breeds rabbits…it has been more than a year since I seen him last, but I remember his shed was full of different colored buns. Some of them had heavy ear mites infestations…he was complaining that the french chef did not want to buy the ones with ear mites and said it did not matter…because well…yeah.

I can not stop thinking of those conditions. I said nothing at the time. I was there with my dad over my grandmother having passed away, but I can not stop thinking about it. I really hope there are not buns in that same condition now and that he has stopped breeding them.

I do not have his contact info and I want to get it from my dad. He lives out of town too. I have more money now…and although I could not possibly have the space for all of them, I was thinking of getting into contact to have them given proper care. They most likely have a number of problems with them though.

I think that maybe if I could just get one saved I would be happy. I am not sure what the guidelines are for rabbits bred for that reason, but leaving ear mites to ravage them seems awful.

[Rebelbun]

My Dozer was on Craigslist as a “free female” he definitely wasn’t a female (which I found out the hard way). The lady I got him from raised meat rabbits and gave away ones she thought were special. I really wanted to get a bigger rabbit breed and I was just curious when I contacted her. After I found out he was at a meat farm was when I officially made the decision to get him. I wanted to be able to give him a better life than what I knew he was probably living in.
Of course we all know the cages they use for rabbits raised for meat. He was in a little cage with one of his sisters. He was 7 months old at the time so both rabbits could barely lay down in the cage When she gave me him he didn’t squirm or anything after he was in my arms. It was like he knew I was going to save him, even though he did seem to be sad about leaving his sister. He was totally calm the whole way home and was nervous to meet Missy and Luna (you can probably figure out how I learned he was male the hard way). He loved his new big cage with the soft blanket floor! (He got an even bigger cage that he doesnt want to share with anyone now lol).
He still doesn’t like to be picked up very much (prolly cause the mean lady picked him up by the ears D:< but he's warming up to loves and cuddles more and more everyday. He's definitely not as timid of me as he was when he first came home.
Oh and Dozer is a Flemish Giant/New Zealand mix he’s my big boy.

[LuckyBunny]

He’s pretty! Looks like he has some Californian in him, gives him those cute color points :3

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

This thread brings back memories. Our family got such a rabbit when I was very young, it was given to us as “the runt of the litter, he’ll remain small”. Considering that the breed was Flemish giant, he still became a very large rabbit. My mother didn’t think of rabbits as indoor animals, and she kept him in a pen in the yard. I was never really encouraged to bond with him, and looking back I think that his life was worse when he was with us than where he came from. He didn’t really get old, he passed away at age 4. I was 8 years old and was upset for weeks because I didn’t understand. I wasn’t even allowed to see his body and say goodbye.

We got this Flemish giant from my grandparents. They had a small farm and bred chickens and rabbits as a small pension. Although unfortunate that the rabbits were bred for meat, they were kept in good conditions. I used to spend my vacations there helping grandpa to take the bunnies to their outdoor pens. They had large wire pens on their piece of grassland, where the rabbits grazed all day in small groups. They were fed a diet of grass, hay, leaves from the vegetable garden and pellets.

Looking back I think his living conditions at my grandparents’ farm would have made him happier than my mothers’ treatment of him. I think she never really considered rabbits as household pets, more like an animal that is just there like a goldfish. In retrospect, a horrible way to treat such a social animal. My father isn’t much better, he sees rabbits as farm animals and thinks we’re crazy for “treating Breintje like a dog”. He criticises us whenever he visits, giving us strange looks when we show him how trained Breintje is or how affectionate he is. He keeps on mumbling that a rabbit doesn’t belong indoors, and won’t see otherwise even though he has evidence that rabbits are great family pets. I guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

[VivaLaBunz]

Just going through the threads and found this, so glad that Billy found a good home! He is absolutely gorgeous too, I love his coloring.

I understand that people are against the breeding of rabbits for meat, and I’ve never even considered eating rabbit because beef and chicken just look so much tastier. But I look on the “bright” side of things, rabbits would have never been domesticated and eventually became pets and show animals if it weren’t for people keeping and breeding them for meat many, many years ago. When you think about it, all domesticated animals were not domesticated simply to be companion animals, they were all domesticated for food, fur (or to help procure said food and fur). That being said, I absolutely despise cruelty to animals. And unfortunately cruelty is found in many places where animals are seen as $ and not as a living being.

[Sr. Melangell]

I don’t know why people want to eat rabbit, I must admit I tried it once, NEVER again, its not a tasty meat, rabbits are animals, but I’m no Vegan, I love rabbits and if anyone can save a child (Rabbits are like children who need care) from a meat place I’m very pleased with them.

[bluepaws]

I’m vegetarian used to be vegan but I switched for now,,, I have rescued 2 meat rabbits from the worst place on earth where a rabbit could be born it literally makes me cry just thinking about it, I’m just Sad we couldn’t rescue the others apparently its legal because sometimes they have food and water but they live under a rotten wooden roof only on wire

[bluepaws]

hes so beautiful I have rescued 2 meat rabbits myself named Luna and Scooby, they are almost 2 years old now and are around 15 pounds when we got them they were 9 weeks old and their feet were bloody and covered in sores from the wire they now free rang around are backyard with 2 more bunnies named blue jeans and Donald Thump, blue jeans was dumped at a rabbit rescue by a petting zoo after she got “to big for the children” although she’s under 5 pounds. She had major trust issues and was afraid of us. but now she’s more trusting after the 2 years we have had her make sure you give your rabbit alfalfa hay as a baby! oh and we let are rabbits free range around the backyard an we use a hutch as their home base to eat, sleep, drink and use the litter box!

[LongEaredLions]

So glad to hear of your bunnies’ happy ending, bluepaws! I have had a few meat bunnies, they are lovely and so deserving.

[LongEaredLions]

So glad to hear of your bunnies’ happy ending, bluepaws! I have had a few meat bunnies, they are lovely and so deserving.

[Victory]

Wow!
I Don’t have a bunny…

I should Get one but, I’m to young to get a job,and We dont have the moneys, or space

[LongEaredLions]

It’s ok Victory! You can do your bunny research here on BB so if you ever are able to support a bunny in the future you will be ready!

[Author]

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