This is actually quite a fitting post for today, as I am being berated on my FB page for this blog, for breeding meat rabbits. Now, at first, people usually are a little upset when they find out that I breed rabbits for meat, until I explain it to them. See, I don't particularly care for factory farming. I don't like not knowing what kind of conditions my meat was in when it was alive. So, I buy ethical meat. I buy beef, pork and poultry from a local farmer, who raises her animals hormone, antibiotic and steroid free. I know that the meat I purchase from this farmer is truly happy meat... However it doesn't make my wallet happy. So, as an alternative, I began to look into raising rabbits for meat, and eventually made the plunge. I know that rabbits born and raised here are healthy and happy. I know what goes into their body(organic greens, fresh forage, pellets, grains, organic hay), and what doesn't (steriods, hormones, antibiotics, chemicals). I know that they never know a day of hunger, or of thirst. I know that they never know a day of pain, or of fear, or undue stress. I know that the end of their life is calm and stress-free as possible, and that the death is as quick as possible. I know that as much of the rabbit as possible is used. I do not have the land, nor the facilities to go with a more conventional species of livestock, however rabbits ARE livestock, rabbits were domesticated for meat and fur production. They are part of the food chain, are a prey species, and are a great natural feed for humans as well as many animals. I'm not forcing you to eat rabbit, but I would very much like it if people would stop reacting as if eating rabbit is barbaric, or akin to eating a human baby. Seriously, they're livestock. Get over it.
There are lots and lots of examples online(both in print and in screen shots) that show how vindictive and evil the animal rights activists can be. They spout off whatever comes to mind, and often don't think it through right. They claim things as fact when they clearly are not true, or they contradict themselves repeatedly. On today's issue of ARA's Behaving Badly, we're going to look at some of the ignorance that is shown by the Animal Rights Advocates.
This is actually quite a fitting post for today, as I am being berated on my FB page for this blog, for breeding meat rabbits. Now, at first, people usually are a little upset when they find out that I breed rabbits for meat, until I explain it to them. See, I don't particularly care for factory farming. I don't like not knowing what kind of conditions my meat was in when it was alive. So, I buy ethical meat. I buy beef, pork and poultry from a local farmer, who raises her animals hormone, antibiotic and steroid free. I know that the meat I purchase from this farmer is truly happy meat... However it doesn't make my wallet happy. So, as an alternative, I began to look into raising rabbits for meat, and eventually made the plunge. I know that rabbits born and raised here are healthy and happy. I know what goes into their body(organic greens, fresh forage, pellets, grains, organic hay), and what doesn't (steriods, hormones, antibiotics, chemicals). I know that they never know a day of hunger, or of thirst. I know that they never know a day of pain, or of fear, or undue stress. I know that the end of their life is calm and stress-free as possible, and that the death is as quick as possible. I know that as much of the rabbit as possible is used. I do not have the land, nor the facilities to go with a more conventional species of livestock, however rabbits ARE livestock, rabbits were domesticated for meat and fur production. They are part of the food chain, are a prey species, and are a great natural feed for humans as well as many animals. I'm not forcing you to eat rabbit, but I would very much like it if people would stop reacting as if eating rabbit is barbaric, or akin to eating a human baby. Seriously, they're livestock. Get over it.
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I was going to post an edition of ARA's Behaving Badly today, however it was brought to my attention from a friend that there is a group on facebook who is attempting to publicly shame another group on facebook. This is not okay, I am absolutely disgusted by this. I'm not normally one for public shaming(let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that moral stuff), however this time I feel the need to.
The first guest blog, hopefully of many! Thank you so much to Becky, who submitted this wonderfully written and informative article! If you spend some time on Craigslist, you’ll see some interesting listings. Free snow (in Chicago!), get-rich-quick systems, wire fraud postings. A few days ago, I even ran across one attempting to exchange a Chihuahua for “services rendered.”
Only makes sense to exchange a pet that way, though. The sale of non-livestock animals is forbidden on Craigslist. The intent is, of course, to ensure that the scourge of the Earth known as pet breeders do not use it as free advertising to make a profit from animals. However, it is perfectly acceptable to request a fee for the necessary veterinary costs associated with the animal you are rehoming. You’ll very often see ads like these. The purpose of this blog was not to talk about dogs, nor dog breeders, nor any animal other than rabbit... However, the world wants what they want, and right now the uproar is about the Flat Creek Border Collies. Unfortunately, until the time given to that breeder has passed, and we find out if he is a) able to make the required changes in the allotted time, and b) if he will get his dogs back intact, and is able to afford the boarding fees(I truly am interested - how much does the ASPCA think one person should be paying to care for a dog in a day - I doubt I will reach that cost, because I only spend $20 every 3-4 months feeding my dog), there is not much to write on about that.
I could, of course, write generic blog posts - I have 4 or 5 drafts partially finished that could be wrapped up in a half hour or so, something to pass the time and fill the space, but I would rather keep with the trend, and write more about the Flat Creek Border Collies. However, no new information about them, so why not take a look at Eric Bellows, the man who started it all? You'll have to excuse me, I'm not completely up to date on this situation, nor is it about rabbits... However, it is about a breeder being targeted by Animal Rights Activists. And that's enough for me to have an opinion on this.
First and foremost, this whole situation is thanks to Eric Bellows, who seems to be in the same line of work/thought as Cesar Millan.. Which is all well and good, you can keep as many dogs as you are able to properly care for. He saw some dogs, didn't like how they were cared for, took pictures and rallied the villagers. Cue pitch forks and torches!! And pitchforks and torches have come out, the villagers are indeed rallying - there are animal rights advocates posting all over the internet concerning this, with the majority of them being the typical "breeders are evil, all breeders should die, let's go steal these dogs and burn down their children!!!" type, irrational and jumping on every comment. Comment anything at all, in any way supporting the kennel OR simply stating an opinion about their conduct, and you are instantly an evil breeder, with no compassion, no heart, no soul, who should be stabbed and peed on. I was guilty of stating that taking the dogs would be theft, and that "for the animals" does not make you exempt from the law. The rabbit lady of Missouri. In case you don't want to read the articles, posted at the bottom, this is an elderly woman raising rabbits for pet and meat sales. No biggie, right? Well, apparently it was a biggie, as the HSUS came and took all of her animals away. And charged her with abuse. A judge has ordered the animals returned, however as far as I can tell, the HSUS is still holding onto them.
"Every time you buy a rabbit from a breeder, two shelter rabbits die - the one you should have adopted, and the one that would have taken that one's place."
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