What should I do?????

[Lis]

 My friend (Let’s just call him Andrew, but that’s not his name) just told me about something his roommate (who I’ll call Bob) is doing that breaks my heart. 

Bob got a beagle a month ago. Someone dumped it in the woods he was hunting in while he was there.

Bob decided he’s going to teach said beagle to hunt. He looks on craigslist for traps, and goes to buy one from someone. When he gets there, the guy has already sold his trap, but has rabbits for sale. Bob figures he’ll use this rabbit to teach the dog to hunt, and buys one for $10. He’s housing the rabbit outside, in a cage made of lumber and chicken wire. 

Andrew flat out told me Bob intends to kill the poor thing by letting the dog go after it. And if the dog doesn’t kill it eventually, he figures he’ll have to kill it himself, just for sport

What should I do? I can’t just sit by and do nothing. I don’t know exactly what our laws are here (Norfolk, VA), but I don’t think they’re in the rabbit’s favor. I would offer to take the rabbit from him, but I have 2 of my own, and this rabbit most likely isn’t spayed or neutered. Another part of me says take the rabbit and take it to the SPCA. Our one here is no kill, but if they won’t take the bun, even a kill shelter is a better choice than what this poor baby is faced with right now. 

[peppypoo]

Oh, that is terrible! I’m so sorry you have to deal with this

I’m not sure how up to date this is, but is this of any help? http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusvas….htm#s6571 

To me, it seems like the situation could be interpreted as an intended fight…I think a call to the appropriate authorities couldn’t hurt.  The sad thing is that any action on anybody’s part, even if this little bunny is saved, is unlikely to deter “Bob” from his goal or methods. Sigh.

[Lis]

The way Andrew told me, it sounds like Bob only got the rabbit because it was convenient. I have no problem with Bob teaching the dog how to hunt, as I grew up in a family that did… just that he’s using a pet to do it with.
I think I’m going to go to Norfolk Animal Care and Control to talk to them on Saturday. I talked to one of their staff earlier this year, and offered help with their website, so hopefully she’ll be willing to help me out.

[peppypoo]

I agree that hunting can be okay…it just seems a little cruel when it’s like “here’s a helpless domestic animal, kill it!” doesn’t it? I’m sure there are other ways to train dogs to hunt. Best of luck to you and the bun!

[Beka27]

I really wish I knew what to recommend, but I don’t. The truth is, even if you take this bunny, he can just go get another $10 bunny. Then you have to try and take that one. If there was some way you could convince him not to train him this way, then you could take the bun, but I’d worry about another rabbit getting put in this situation.

[highway234]

i wonder if there’s a way this guy could be reasoned with. i mean if his goal is to teach his dog to hunt, a domestic bunny isn’t even going to accomplish it, i doubt the poor thing would even put up a good chase. and i hear so many stories of dog owners whose dogs are always going after wild rabbits on their own, at least with that it’s more of a fair matchup. don’t get me wrong, i don’t want to see that either, i’m not a big fan of hunting myself, but i mean, this bob guy can probably fling 10-dollar rabbits at his dog all he wants, and it’s not going to teach his dog to hunt. it’ll just teach him to kill defenseless animals, and that’s just no use to anyone.

gah. so depressing.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Not to condone anything illegal but if it were me I would steal the bunny and bring it to the shelter or a friend’s place until you can rehome it. I’ve actually done this in a situation where a bunny was certain to meet a terrible fate. Hope this is okay to post? I don’t want to cause any trouble…

[kralspace]

that’s awful

you might email him this news story about the trouble a guy got into for sending his dog after a raccoon and letting him kill it. And that was a wild animal, I would hope it would be worse to sic a dog on a domesticated pet.

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/02/man_faces_misdemeanor_charge_o.html

here’s the text of the story:

Seth Foster, 23, said he found his family garage in disarray last summer and sent his dog in the building to investigate.

Grizz, a blue heeler, returned with the culprit, a young raccoon.

As two teenage boys watched, one of them filming its actions with a cell phone, Grizz killed the coon, Foster said.

Now, Foster is facing a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty resulting in death, which is punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Jackson County District Court.
Link
Should Jackson-area resident face criminal charge for letting his dog kill a raccoon?

Foster, whose father owns a nuisance animal control business, contends he did not do anything wrong. The raccoon damaged his family’s property on Ivan Drive in Spring Arbor Township.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said of the charge. “Everybody I’ve talked to says it’s ridiculous.”

There is a proper way to deal with a pest and it does not involve animal agony, said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer. Raccoons can be trapped alive or quickly and efficiently killed, he said.

Blumer said the dog was encouraged to attack the raccoon and “tear it apart.” He likened this to cockfighting or dogfighting, both of which are illegal. “There is legitimate sport, and then there’s cruel sport,” he said.

“Because you have a license to kill a deer, doesn’t mean you can break all its legs and watch it die slowly.”

He said the prosecutor’s office offered Foster a “reasonable settlement,” the details of which Blumer did not know, but Foster declined to take it. “I am innocent,” Foster said.

The two boys also were charged. Their cases were handled by the juvenile court and diverted, which means no legal record of an alleged wrongdoing exists upon completion of a court-ordered program.

Foster said the boys lived near his family at the time and would sometimes come to their home. They egged on the dog, he said. Foster said he took the raccoon from Grizz, but the dog got it back.

It did not take Grizz, a smaller herding dog, a long time to kill the animal, Foster said. The prosecutor’s office has about two or more minutes of cell phone footage in five different clips.

A neighbor’s mother called the police, Foster said, and a deputy arrived. According to court records, the incident occurred Aug. 1.

The dog helps Foster and his father, Mike Foster, locate raccoons in attics or small crawl spaces while the Fosters do their work. They catch the animals and sometimes euthanize them.

Mike Foster owns Foster’s Wildlife Control Services. He’s been in the business for about 30 years. The company specializes in trapping, removing and excluding nuisance wildlife. He said he and his son hunt and the family primarily eats wild meat.

In all his work with animals, Mike Foster said he has seen worse than a dog killing a coon. “People put out antifreeze for animals to poison,” he said.

“You can’t call one thing cruel and let other stuff slide.”

The whole incident has been “blown out of proportion,” he said. “To me, it’s no different than if you buy a cat to kill mice.”

There is a difference, Blumer said. The killing of mice is not controlled.

There are trapping and hunting seasons for raccoons. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, a property owner without a license or permit may kill a raccoon all year if the animal is damaging or about to damage private property.

Mike and Seth Foster said the raccoon Grizz killed put a hole in the garage. It damaged a door, ate stored bird feed and knocked tools off a work bench. It was “raising hell,” Mike Foster said.

Dogs cannot be used in Michigan to kill game, only to chase, retrieve or find it, a DNRE spokeswoman said.

Blumer said it would be different if the dog had gotten the raccoon on its own and killed it without human intervention. In that case, it’s nature.

[kralspace]

I can see taking the dog out in the woods and teaching it to track wild rabbits, but setting it after a domesticated rabbit doesn’t seem any different than dog fighting or codkfighting where the intention is that one of them is going to die. that makes me so mad!

[highway234]

that’s something else, KS, i’m no expert but i thought beagles were just supposed to chase the animals, not attack them. the beagle finds the animal, the hunter shoots the animal. but again, i’m no expert.

[xParadise]

I agree with highway234.. as far as I know, beagles are trained to chase rabbits out of their burrows so the hunter can shoot them. A beagle doesn’t have a “retreiver” mouth, so if it were to catch a rabbit, it would pretty much maul it and cause a lot of damage and be useless to the hunter. Unless it’s just for some sick fun, and then that’s just disgusting.
I can’t really offer any advice. I think personally I would end up bunnapping it, and making it look like it simply “escaped” (but I don’t think I can advocate stealing anyone’s possessions, even if they are in grave danger). Your best bet would probably be alerting any nearby shelters of this cruel plan and maybe they can step in.

Poor bunny  hoping for the best for it.

[RabbitPam]

You can also call any Animal Control officer of any city or town to report abuse of an animal. They may be able to call him with a warning of the consequences of intentional abuse, like if there’s a fine, or anything else that might be legally available. I’m thinking a warning call might scare him into not pursuing it further.

[LBJ10]

I think this would count as animal cruelty, especially since it is a domesticated animal that is being used as bait. The rabbit would be completely defenseless and might not even know to run. I’m sure the dog would have it in its mouth pretty quickly. If it were me, then I would call the police or animal control or whoever is in charge of that sort of thing. I don’t know what the laws are there, but I would think someone of authority poking around might be enough to scare them into not going through with it.

[jerseygirl]

Perhaps you could put some info together to redirect him? That article Kralspace posted would could make someone think twice. He may be unaware of it even being possibly illegal. Maybe pass that on plus some info from a legit Bealgle club on the proper and more effective ways to train? You could ask “Andrew” to pass it onto “Bob” if he’s happy to. He could just say it’s from somebody who’s concerned. Then if “Bob” agrees, could you offer to take the rabbit to an alternative place? If none of this makes any impact, then resort to a more direct plan B (whatever that may be).

The guy he went to by the traps from…he has rabbits for this purpose? To sell to people with hunting dogs? That’s possibly a case where animal control could intervene.

[Isabelle]

I think you should inform the local law enforcement, and then perhaps try to offer other ways your neighbor could train his dog to hunt, give him resources for some books, or tell him to get a library card. It is definately breaking some animal rights rules. It’s one thing to have a hunting license and hunt in a designated area, it’s a complete other to purchase an animal from a pet store so one of your current pets can kill it.

[Lis]

So NACC told me they couldn’t do anything… but I mentioned the situation in passing on PETA2’s boards. PETA just called me asking for info. And even though I didn’t know the exact address, they knew the exact house I was talking about because the person taking the details lives in the area (PETA’s based out of the town I live in).
I feel bad for sicing PETA on the guy, but they’ll do something.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Good for you. Hopefully PETA will get on the case before the worst happens.

[Bren]

Even being a hunter myself, I cannot condone this! As others have mentioned, this is not a wild rabbit. I would definatley tell the appropriate authority! I agree that there is a place and a proper way to learn about hunting and the responsibilities of such. This does not in any way shape or form fall in any responsibility category for such type activity. This person gives the rest of us responsible hunters a bad rap! I can honeslty say that in my neck of the woods, there are rabbit breeders that raise strictly for meat production. I am not honestly sure what a code enforcement officer would do with the knowledge as it is kind of a way of life here, but I think under the circumstances presented as we read them here, there is definately a case and a fight at hand. I would NOT hesitate to get someone involved, but let them handle it.

[Author]

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