It upsets me to read so many questions about rabbit breeding considering all the poor buns in the world ignored in their cages, wasting away in shelters, and abandoned in parks to their own devices. Breeders: why do you do it?

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• First off, thanks for answering my question +3 Also I think it's wonderful that you care about your rabbits' wellbeing. To respond to your answer:

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  by Teresa on November 30th, 2009

• As I mentioned in other comments, how you care for your rabbits is great but kind of irrelevant. My concern is that, considering there are rabbits that aren't being properly cared for and that are continuing to be born into inappropriate environments (not by you, no, but it is happening), why do you bring more rabbits into the world?
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  Deny it all you like but actually I *can* tell you that the first time I looked into the eyes of my rabbit I thought of the poor buns ignored in their cages, miserable and taken for granted, because he was one of those buns when I met him, and I did think of the poor buns wasting away in shelters, because he'd been one of those rabbits too. I've also volunteered in a shelter and seen the bunnies there, and often when I look at him and other rabbits I think of how difficult life must've been for him and how difficult it still is for so many others.
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  Yes you're right, this question applies to all animal breeders. As a rabbit lover I naturally think more on the issue of rabbits ... empathise most with them, feel their plight is the worst, etc. I'm not saying it actually is, but I don't think there's anything wrong with having 'pet' issues (ha ha). We're all bound to care more about some things than others.

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  by Teresa on November 30th, 2009

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• Like I said, I commend your actions, taking in unwanted animals, so on and so forth (honestly), but how can you say there is no overpopulation? I gave you evidence, which HRS didn't feature in once. Rabbit dumps and other mass rabbit rescues happen all the time -- I gave you the link to a blog that often posts about them: do you think they're all lies? When I talk about the rabbit room in my local shelter and my local rescue organization -- are you saying I'm lying? What about the Pittsburgh House Rabbit Club -- are they full of crap, too? Do you really only believe in things that you experience first-hand?
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  Spayed rabbits aren't showable. To be blunt: so what? What's so good about showing rabbits? The rate of ovarian cancer in unaltered does is immense -- is that acceptable, to risk the rabbit's long life so long she's being shown? A person breeds thoroughbreds for show when jars are abandoned in shelters and in parks: what makes that okay? What's the justification?

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  by Teresa on November 25th, 2009

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• It's good to see you taking your rabbits seriously. There is overpopulation, though: not evenly spread throughout the world and perhaps not in your region, but news stories (generally North American & UK) pop up about rabbit dump rescues and other mass rescues fairly regularly (I often see them on MyHouseRabbit blog -- in fact there's one there now: http://www.myhouserabbit.com/blog/2009/11/16/update-luv-a-buns-mass-rescue/); and on a first-hand basis I see the overpopulation myself: my region supports not only a large rabbit room in the bigger humane society (and, likely, rabbits in other shelters as well), but also a rabbit rescue NGO for my city and environs, and an active re-homing discussion board on the website for a provincially-based rabbit education NGO. Maybe it's not like this where you live, but what's wrong with those bunnies at the next city's shelter you mentioned? And what about overpopulation and mass rescues elsewhere? Overpopulation requires emigration ... outside adoptions. If you have a car, nothing's stopping you from considering a 5-hour radius around your home when looking to own a rabbit. My point is, if you're patient and you do your research, I'm sure the overpopulation will reveal itself to you.

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• Again, I congratulate you on your responsible rabbit care (sincerely), but I see on your profile that you live in Pittsburgh and, if this is true, frankly I find it hard to believe what you said about your local shelters. My region only supports a provincial rabbit education NGO, but you have one for your city alone: the Pittsburgh House Rabbit Club. They write on their website that "every year, hundreds of domestic rabbits are abandoned to Pittsburgh animal shelters" (http://www.pittsburghhouserabbit.org/info.html). On top of that, just 4 hours away in Harrisburg there are 25 rabbits in a shelter by BunnyPeople right now (http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA256.html), and 5 hours away in Oreland there's another 16 in a shelter by Rabbit Habit (http://www.rabbithabit.org/adoptables/). I found these 3 websites in less than 5 minutes in a google search, so there's probably others, too. What's wrong with these rabbits? Why don't you adopt them instead of bringing new rabbits into the world?

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• There is another great article with many links on this issue here: http://arabbitblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/feral-rabbit-populations/.

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  by Teresa on May 29th, 2010

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• I have to say I don't agree with your distinction between breeders and real breeders. I understand what you're talking about: I know about the people who breed through carelessness, capriciousness, or ignorance, and I agree most of the questions here are from them. I also know breeders who care about their animals in a tangible way: who do research and put effort into providing the best conditions they can. I know many breeders care for their rabbits just as well as I do mine, if not better! And if a new kit has to be born, I'm much happier it be born in your house, say, than most of the people who ask after their rabbits on AB. But I'm not talking about rabbit care, per se. My position and concern is that the end result in both types of breeder is the same: more rabbits. (P.S. I'd say the same about dogs, cats, etc, too.)

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• I see no reason to not share my love of rabbits, dogs, birds, whatever, with others if they will be getting a good home and I think that most real breeders do that. I've never produced 'just a rabbit'. They all had a purpose and they all had spoken for homes or were for meat. I don't see young, pedigreed, full blooded animals often in rescues or shelters. I see ones that are older neglected and so the fault is in the owners, and I rarely see that with rabbits. The rabbits I've seen at shelters were for the most part, just rabbits, no papers, and I rarely see rabbits in rescues like they claim even though I go looking for them. I've had a problem with the way the ARBA and the HRS regard each other. I wish they could find some middle ground but when both sides can't accurately state the statistics on rabbits, I guess we can't expect a truce any time soon :-(

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  by Galeanda on November 20th, 2009

• There's no such thing as "just a rabbit." A rabbit is a rabbit. Old, neglected, paperless rabbits deserve love and care just as much as young, pedigreed, full-blooded rabbits. It makes no sense to me to create the latter when the former exist.

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• When it comes down to it, I think it's cruel and unusual to distinguish between thoroughbred and mixed rabbits like this. I don't understand it. And certainly there's more than one way to share your love of rabbits with others.

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• By saying it's "just a rabbit" I'm not saying they have no value as a loving pet, but it's simply a fact that most neglected rabbits are ones that are 'jar', and thus to many people are disposable and not worth much. What made you think I am saying they shouldn't be loved? I'm saying that if someone mates just any two rabbits together, often they are related, they are simply a pet rabbit which there not much demand for since they don't have the use of showing, breeding, or eating to those that would most likely be looking for a rabbit. The demand for rabbits out there are for the latter type, not 'jar'.

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  by Galeanda on November 20th, 2009

• In what other way can one share love for rabbits than by producing sound healthy rabbits, bred carefully so they don't have most of the genetic problems and are taken care of and wanted by their new homes? What better way is there than by showing people the possibilities of a rabbit as a loved pet?

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  by Galeanda on November 20th, 2009

• If you *do* think "jar" rabbits should be loved, why aren't you loving them and encouraging others to love them instead of doing the opposite: supplanting them with thoroughbred kittens? I think a better way to share your love for rabbits would be to encourage others to adopt/foster needy rabbits and to advocate on their behalf, and to do what you can to change the market. The demand for thoroughbreds leaves thousands of "jar" rabbits in shelters every year (and no animal should live in a shelter: they should be for temporary, emergency situations only). By breeding, you support and build the market; you feed the demand, directly. The market isn't a living, autonomous body with a will of it's own; nor is it a distant abstraction guided by an "invisible hand": every transaction influences it, including yours. This may come down to our socio-economic-political ideologies, but to me this is a straightforward example of why capitalism is immoral and destructive.

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  by Teresa on November 20th, 2009

• Where did I say, "Don't love them?" I have and do. I do go to shelters and adopt when I can and I find them good homes. I encourage spaying and neutering of all pet rabbits no matter what their breeding is. I simply said, don't make unwanted rabbits of any kind. And I don't breed rabbits for pets or show anymore other than for FFA or 4-H. The only rabbits I breed these days is for eating so there is no pet trade. And I never did it for money or capitalism, whatever that means.

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  by Galeanda on November 20th, 2009

• That's great, honestly, but I think I've pulled us off-topic because I never meant to suggest that you, on a personal level, don't love jar bunnies. I was trying to say that breeding for the thoroughbred market is, in and of itself, an act of un-love for jar bunnies everywhere (IMO obviously). That is, I'm ignoring entirely the acts and feelings of individual people toward individual bunnies when I say that by breeding rabbits for the thoroughbred market, breeders are contributing to a trend that leaves jar bunnies in shelters. Aside from personal specifics, the whys and hows and so on, the basic principle remains: when in a state of overpopulation, every individual competes with every other individual for resources. In this case, the resource is responsible human companionship, and in the competition between thoroughbreds and jars, thoroughbreds usually win. (I'm talking here about breeding for all non-meat purposes -- meat, I think, is entirely a separate matter.)

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  by Teresa on November 25th, 2009

• (The reason I brought up capitalism was perhaps a bit of a stretch but it wasn't to suggest that you do things for the money: I was referring to the endemic assumption amongst capitalists that the market is an autonomous thing unto itself, operating completely outside the moral realm. In fact it is influenced, determined even, by every single transaction: it is created by and made up of humans, and humans definitely do reside within the moral realm; therefore, every single, individual, personal transaction is a moral act ... or an immoral one, as the case may be, but either way definitely *not* an "amoral" one.)

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  by Teresa on November 25th, 2009

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• I see competition there.

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  by Teresa on November 30th, 2009

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• I think it's rather sick that you didn't warn us what this video was about. I thought it would be a news report about rabbit dumps or something. WARNING: THIS VIDEO FEATURES A SNAKE AND RABBIT IN A CAGE TOGETHER.

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  by Teresa on May 29th, 2010

• I'm sorry if the video upset you in any way. :)
  It's only a rabbit and that's what snakes do when they need to eat.

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  by Strength on May 29th, 2010

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