Bournemouth Bunnies - The Aftermath
I am writing this in the hope that it will make people more aware of the consequences of breeding rabbits. When I first found out about the Bournemouth bunnies I was told that they were from a rescue that was closing down. This couldnt have been more wrong. These bunnies were the result of a ladies breeding project getting severly out of hand. She started off with a few un-neutered rabbits running round her garden. Several months later she ended up with over 100 inbred rabbits that were still continuing to breed. It was only then that she asked for help.
One day in January we hired a transit van to drive the 220 miles down to Bournemouth. We managed to remove 47 rabbits from the premises that day and distributed them among 3 other rescue centres. The lady in question would not let us rehome the rest and as far as we are aware she is still continuing to breed them to sell to pet shops. All of the rabbits that we brought back with us had been badly mistreated, most of which had severe health problems.
I can not begin to describe the heartache that myself and the other rescuers have been through with these animals. Too many tears have been shed over a situation which could have been avoided had the original rabbits been neutered in the first place. In-breeding, overcrowding and mistreatment had caused large abscesses, dental problems, genetic problems to name a few. My first tears came the day after we got back when I had a chance to thoroughly examine them. One of the females was not eating and an x-ray at the vets confirmed a large tumour on the jaw. Sadly this meant she had to be put to sleep. Another... Merlin as named by one of the vet nurses had an abcess on his side the size of 2 golf balls. A massive 1/4 litre of puss was drained from the wound. Sadly he also passed away during treatment. I still have 3 of the others here, all of which have ongoing health problems so can not be rehomed.
One very sad case was Pirate who was taken to Sue at Bracknell rabbit rescue. He had developed severe problems with his front and back teeth and could only survive on soft food. He had several operations to try and correct his problems. His last and sadly most unfortunate was when he went under anaesthetic to have one of his eyes removed (he had a lot of problems with it) and the vet found a tumour in his skull bone. The kindest thing was to put him to sleep.
Then there was Goliath who had severe head tilt, malloclusion and stasis. Sue fought for 3 days to try and save him but sadly he passed away in her arms. He was such a gentle loving bunny and his time with her was too short.
Sam is an inspiration to us all. Despite everything he has been through he is still standing. He developed a severe head tilt as a result of E-coniculi (a protazoa that attacks the brain) shortly after arriving here. For several weeks I persevered with veterinary medicines and Reiki healing and he eventually got better. Sadly his head tilt has now returned so he is receiving treatment again.
We live in a very cruel world and it is with great sadness that people like this are aloud to continue to breed animals. Every single rescuer that helped with the Bournemouth bunnies has cried countless times over their suffering yet despite all they have been through these rabbits were the most loving. They really seemed to appreciate the short period of love that we were able to show them.
To Merlin, Pirate, Goliath and all the others that were not so fortunate... Run free over the rainbow bridge. We gave you love that you were never able to experience before and we will never forget you.
Cheryl
Sprowston guinea pig rescue