As I’ve said before, I just got Bright Eyes on sunday from a backyard rabbit breeder who I believe was retired… She was giving them away to anyone because apparently the rabbits were fighting or something. She seemed like a nice lady… She was giving them away for free instead of having them euthenised so I figured she knew what she was doing…
However, today I noticed that she gave a lot of instructions that I’ve been told by other sources specifically not to do…. Anyways so what I first noticed is that there were 4 that she was giving away…. and they were all in cages in a fenced off area in her backyard… I figured it was just so that she could have them in a place where they could be seen and met and such…. However I never imagined that there was something wrong with what she did. I knew she bred rabbits and sold the kits to pet shops and families… I fear to testing labs as well but I certainly hope not… But I don’t know anything about backyard rabbit breeding.. I heard of puppy mills but I figured this wasn’t at all the same… The only thing I noticed that I was a bit weirded out with was that A. She didn’t know the ages of any of the 4 rabbits and B. the way she picked them up… She’d grab the fur on the back of their necks and pull them out… She assured me that it wouldn’t hurt them but I would never do it anyways… But I figured she must have known what she was doing…
But now that I think about it, I’m not so sure Bright Eyes has had as happy of a life until now as I originally thought.. First off, she gave me food for him that isn’t good for him… I wonder why? Was it simply that she had something cheap in bulk that she could feed many rabbits at once? Either way.. it’s odd that she never noticed or didn’t care.. Secondly, their cages were all in the backyard… I didn’t really put two and two together but I think that’s where they lived! They had living huts true but the cages were quite small… maybe twice or three times the size of them… they didn’t have any litter boxes or anything at the bottom of their cages… Also I came across a page about people who want to abolish backyard rabbit breeding/ rabbit farming and I read a list of reasons why… The thing is, I know she used Bright Eyes for breeding, possibly for many years… And she didn’t even ask us any questions about why we wanted him or if we could handle a rabbit or anything… So they lived in small cages for years not being used for anything but breeding… living outside despite the diverse weather of Ontario and never had a home?
I’m wondering if that’s why he seems so amazed at being allowed to free roam…maybe he never had the chance before? Maybe he’s so nervous about being patted because he’s never had affection shown to him? I’m starting to notice this odd behaviour… Idk, what do you guys think? Am I maybe just looking too far into it? Do backyard rabbit breeders often neglect the rabbits they use for breeding?