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3K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  Fubie 
#1 ·
I'm in a very rural part of Alabama where raising buns indoors and treating them like family members is beyond rare. I'd love to hear from other BAMA bun-slaves like myself. :)

Holla!

Mimi
 
#2 ·
i still run into people here who've never heard about rabbits being "that kind of pet" or even that buns can be litter-trained... i guess it's a southern thing to think of making a rabbit your dinner before you'd think of making it your pet...

i'm not a BAMA bun-slave, but i am a Music City bun-slave - close enough, right?
 
#3 ·
Oh yeah girlfriend,

You are close enough to know the deal with the rabbits in the South!! LOL!!

I'm writing back and forth to a woman right now who lives in Lutts, TN and has GORGEOUS French Lops and I really want one but that's such a far drive for me!!

I really wish there were bun-lovers much closer ... it's ridiculous that no one out here considers bunnies as "that kind of pet"!!! The Animal Shelter attendant out here almost laughed at me when I asked if they had bunnies that needed adopting!!

And let's not even mention the laughing stock I was when I ran into some people I knew in Mobile on the day I was having Midnight fixed. They asked what I was doing down there and when I told them I was killing time while my bunny got treated, they almost split their pants!! LOL!

It's nice to have bun-slaves to talk to ... folks who "get it"!!

\'/ Paw Hugs \'/
Mimi

P.S. - If I decide to come out that way and get one of those bunnies, I'll look you up!
 
#4 ·
Hi mimicwn,

I'm not in Alabama, but right next door in Georgia, so I get it too :thumbsup: As a matter of fact, my babies are named Biscuit & Gravy. We've had Gravy since she was a baby, and she got renamed from Bugs to Gravy because I had a co-worker that kept kidding me about frying her up. Then when we found Biscuit, he just kind of fell into that name because - if you've got Gravy, you need a Biscuit.

;)
 
#6 ·
Well y'all know something? After yesterday, I think I've just about seen it all when it comes to folks dealing with buns in these country woods of ours.

I can somewhat understand the locals being taken aback by our love/care for what they consider to be table food, but the Animal Shelters should be a different story altogether.

I won't name the specific Animal Shelter in an effort to protect the ignorant ... I mean ... innocent. But yesterday I happened to contact an animal shelter to see if they had any bunnies 'cause I've been seeking a companion for Princess Midnight.

It just so happened that they had ONE lonely bun there that needed adoption. So I loaded up the kids, took a carrier, hay, pellets and water just in case we decided we wanted "him" (according to the shelter crew), and headed on the long drive to see if we'd found an abandoned bun a new home.

When I got there, this poor little bun was caged amongst the kittys with no toys or anything! Even the kittys had things in their cages to scratch on and roll around ya know? So I figured these folks were not too bun-savvy.

My fears were confirmed when I asked a little about the bun:

- Has it been checked by a vet? NO.
- What sex is it? We dunno.
- When did it get here? May 22nd
- Is it neutered? No.

Okay, I could get by with all of these questions primarily being on the negative, since someone just dumped the bunny there on a whim.

But this was the KILLER!!!:

- What have you been feeding it since it got here ...???
Answer: Uh ... CAT FOOD

Cat food?????????????????? It was a miracle this bun was still living!! Well, I knew that this was not going to be an *adoption*, but a straight up *RESCUE* from the very place that rescues animals. This poor bun has been eating cat food since the 22nd of May y'all. You shoulda seen it when I put it in the car. Straight for the pellets!!!

So yeah ... we live in the country alright, where buns are definitely not creatures intended as *pets*. I was blown away that an animal shelter didn't have enough sense to know that a *rabbit* needed rabbit food ... not *cat* food?

Anyways, *Harmony* has a new forever home!! Yay!! I wanted a Lop and she is a Lop. So I know there was Divine interference here for both Harmony and I. She's black just like Princess Midnight and I swore I was NOT going to get another black pet!! LOL!

But, as fate would have it ... she's the same color as 90 percent of my other fur babies.

Anyway, this bun is a perfect addition to the family. She absolutely LOVES and I mean LOVES human contact. I have been able to pick her up and trance her (so that I could sex her), and I'm not even able to do that with Midnight who has been with me since she was only 7 weeks old!!

Anyway, I'm going off the topic now. Bottom line is, in much of the South, our buns have to be rescued from even the rescuers!!! LOL!!

Mimi
 
#8 ·
Well I am glad that you rescued her! Poor little girl. Sounds like you have found a wonderful new bun though!

And Fubie I think you may have it - I personally like rats but if I ever got one I know certain family friends would be calling the nice men in white coats on me! Some don't even understand dogs and cats as pets!
 
#9 · (Edited)
just a little common sense would have been helpful - cats are meat-eaters, rabbits are vegitarians.... cat food is made from processed meat and protein!!!!!!

good grief... the least they could've done is look up rabbits on the internet if they weren't sure what to feed her... even a straight dieter of iceberg lettuce would have been better than cat food...

they were just being lazy... if they don't want to actually take care of the animals they are "helping" than they don't need to work there... i'm sure they're are plenty of people in need of a job who would love to take care of these animals....

luckily there's a bunny lady who keeps in contact with most of the county shelters in Middle Tennessee just in case they get rabbits (i got my new 2 with her help)... she even admitted to me that the director of one of these shelters will give rabbits to farmers for "beagle practice".... she tries to get them out of shelters and at least into foster homes as soon as they come in...
 
#10 ·
"Beagle practice" oh that is horrible?? The shelter should be fined for that and the person should be fired and prosecuted!! Oh that would not go over well up here. Poor little bunnies at least they have someone to try to help them.
 
#11 ·
shelters around here are all run by the county's local government, and as with most southern governments, everybody knows everybody

he's able to get away with it because he's probably got a few friends closer to the top of the food chain.... and they're quite possibly "hunting buddies"....

i have no respect for people who live like they do no wrong...
 
#12 ·
As I have some dealings with people in the south I have heard that about the southern governments. As long as you are in with the right people you are able to get away with things. In this case it should not matter who you have as friends. Unfortunately I guess it does. I guess I also have trouble with the idea of hunting - which is wrong of me since I am not a vegetarian. But I just would never want to meet my meal before I ate it!
 
#13 ·
i'm not in a family that does the whole hunting thing - one side is all cow farmers (some dairy, some stock), and the other side is from New Jersey that's half English and half Cherokee Indian from Tennessee... kinda confusing...

but i wasn't raised around hunting... i couldn't imagine eating squirrels, deer, or oppossums, and definitely not rabbits...

i have a million squirrels in my oak trees and i wouldn't have it any other way... i probably have so many because a lot of people around here will shoot them with pellet guns... and i have a couple of squirrel feeders... my yard is a safe haven i guess...

and i do get the occassional curious cottontail... i don't try to catch them, but i will throw some almost-too-brown bananas or extra hay their way...
 
#14 ·
Jewels, you know I was pretty ticked off right? I wondered if I should report that particular shelter when I was at the peak of my pissivity (on the ride home with my new bun), but then I figured ... who'd care? It's just a bunny -- that's the attitude of these folks out here which is why they didn't bother to even get a $1.00 bag of carrots to feed poor Harmony. I mean geez, you learn that much just from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons!! LOL!

Bottom line, they didn't wanna put forth any expense, no matter how small, on Harmony because frankly she was not supposed to live as far as they were concerned. This is a shelter that will kill animals who are not adopted after a certain period of time, and they just fed her any old thing because in their minds no one on earth was coming for that bunny.

I tell ya, it truly was by chance that I happened to go to that shelter the other day. I never would've even considered them while searching for a companion bun, because I KNOW they have nothing but cats and dogs. Divine Intervention I tell ya ... God was truly looking out for Miss Harmony -- small but mighty *Diva*. :)

Kathydip,
Girl let me tell ya, you think that giving buns for Beagle practice is bad? I just recently heard a rescue that got bunnies out of a hoarding situation (the compulsive collecting of animals), and when one of the shelter workers was talking with friend about not knowing where they were going to find enough fosterers/permanent homes for the bunnies, the friend replied, "just sell them to a soup kitchen!"

You KNOW the friend was from the South and truly meant it as a viable option. She was not at all trying to be insulting, but as a country girl, born and raised, rabbits were bred for meat and fur ... PERIOD!

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Mimi
 
#15 ·
Divine intervention is how I found Tabatha. I am glad that God stepped in for Harmony too!

I guess I am a northern through and through! I would never think of selling the buns to a soup kitchen! At this point I would never even order rabbit at a resturant. I cannot be too harsh on her - that is their way of life I guess. I try not to judge anyone for something like that but isn't she worried that the rabbits aren't eating quality? Maybe that is silly but you just don't know how well they were fed before or what they were fed!
And I cannot see eating anyone's pets! uck!!!

Friends had joked with me that I should make rabbit stew out of Tabby - I responded to everyone that she didn't have enough meat on her bones for one bite! Sadly she really doesn't - but I am still trying to fatten her up!
 
#16 ·
my two new boy buns were actually supposed to be euthinized the day before i was able to pick them up... two perfectly healthy, perfectly sweet (they warmed up instantly to us the day we brought them home!!), and they were going to put them to sleep... at least the shelter they came from was taking care of them... even though they'd been there less than a week...

just remember ladies - they're our buns now... all we can do is preach the bunny gospel and hope...
 
#17 ·
About people wanting to eat bunnies, I kNOW! We had to stop free roaming them because some freaks were trying to shot them for lunch or something, FREAKS. I mean c'mon, if you see something with clearly domestice fur...and others would try to use them as some sortof hunting practice for their dogs. Although, our rooster and goose soon took responsiblity for guarding the yard and chased intruders out, haha, gettin' beat up by some birds, lovely.
 
#18 ·
jewels said:
shelters around here are all run by the county's local government, and as with most southern governments, everybody knows everybody

he's able to get away with it because he's probably got a few friends closer to the top of the food chain.... and they're quite possibly "hunting buddies"....

i have no respect for people who live like they do no wrong...

If I were you I'd check the satutes on animal cruelty, every state is different, If I remember correctly, what are considered animals in tennesse is mostly livestock, I think rabbits can be considered that and if not, fairly sure they're still covered.
 
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