Why are rabbits treated so badly?

[Khandro]

People put them in little hutches and ignore them for 99% of the time it seems. They give them food and water, but the poor creatures just sit there in all temperatures confined in a tiny space, if a similar fate was handed out to a cat or a dog there would be an outcry. Will someone tell me what it is all about please?

[NOX]

It's the usual double standards that mankind has embraced so happily- like you'll get animal rights activists boycotting a hunt all day who will then happily come home and squish a spider. Personally I hate it.

[craft1948]

I cannot for the life of me, understand why anyone would buy a rabbit as a pet.............

[bednobs]

probably because rabbits are evil

[Nummy]

a couple of my friends have rabbits for pets, but they're house rabbits - and they have the life of riley

[wolf63]

I am very much a cat or dog girl and have never had a bunny rabbit. But animals are 'people' too and deserve to be treated with respect and given a happy life.

For some reason some so-called animal lovers and not really very nice to animals.

[Ankou]

most domestic rabbits do well outside, provided that they have a good sized hutch and plenty of bedding. more likely to suffer from being too hot, and rabbits can generally survive in sub-zero temperatures.

but of course its that not nice for a family pet! our bunny is indoor's. he gets the roam of the house for about 5 hours a day, and often spends the evenings sitting on the sofa watching telly with the cat.

[Maydup]

Why indeed.

I wrote a reply about the rights and wrongs of keeping any animal as a pet but scrubbed it for fear of spoiling a quiet Sunday with a full blown argument!

[TTG]

Same with cage birds.

[ummmm]

My rabbits don't live in a hutch. They have a hutch they can go in...and they do, sometimes.

I agree with bednobs....they are evil...lol

[wolf63]

Ankou and ummm - are your bunnies toilet trained?

[Ankou]

yep. one or two pellets every now and again, but mostly visits the little rabbits room to drop those friends off.

[Maydup]

Oh, don't even make me think about caged birds.... now that is truly evil!

[Khandro]

I have to pass by one every day when I walk my dog. It is in a front garden, the hutch is about 3ft by 18 inches. It just sits there, I try not to look, I could cry. I must do something, but what?

[wolf63]

Ankou - that is so sweet. I used to think of rabbits as stupid but since my friend got a couple for her little boy I have changed my mind a little.

Khandro - are you seeing the bunnies at the same time each day? They might take it in for an evening in front of the TV.

[ummmm]

No...mine aren't. But they don't live in the house. They live in our outhouse/lean to. We have to clean up everyday.

[boxtops]

That's a normal hutch size, khandro - how do you know that it doesn't come out occasionally?

[Khandro]

wolf, It is a nice thought, but I doubt if it is true, as the owner is one of the local 'Inbreds'. I will go out with a torch and make sure though.

[pdust]

my grandkids have a rabbit, he has his hut outside when its hot and plays in the garden loads and when its cold he's brought indoors and plays in the house loads...... the kids play with him all the time, hes well happy

[ummmm]

They actually like sitting in a hutch.

Mine have a large area to foam. They have the garden all day...but I'll often find them (4) huddled up in the hutch/under the hutch/on top of the hutch.....and if I leave the door open, huddled in my kitchen/behind the TV/cloakroom.

They don't like me very much :-( They love my OH....He just whistles and has 4 rabbits at his feet.

[pdust]

have they got rabies ummmm? lol