To be worried about the school rabbits? WWYD?

[lottieandmia]

Dd's school acquired two very cute little rabbits recently. She has been very keen to sign up to take them home to look after for the weekend so today we collected them for the weekend.

I'm really shocked to see that they spend pretty much their entire lives in a tiny living space which does not allow them to move around or stretch out. My guinea pigs have a much bigger cage than they do. The rabbits cage allows them to only do one hop from length to length (if that)

We're animal lovers and I'm very worried about them. So much so that I'm willing to buy them a bigger hutch to donate to the school.

In my situation what would you do about this? We have never had rabbits but I do know they are intelligent, complex and are often rehomed due to a lack of understanding about their care needs. What would you do?

That's only OP's username I think.

I wouldn't keep one guinea pig in that space let alone two rabbits.

Brilliant email lottie
The Rabbit Awareness Association has some really good advice (including the 15 Reasons to See a Vet Urgently one).

It would be well worth asking them if they'll send some literature/posters to the school (either direct or via yourself)

DD and I are guinea-pig keepers , I've never kept rabbits , but Rabbit Keeping has differences to Guinea-Pig care. So even though we're clued up on Piggies, there are loads of things I'd need to gen up on.
Which every prospective owner should do, no matter what pet they buy.

Good to get the Rabbit awareness onside - and let the school know about Rabbit Awareness Week (I checked , IIRC its end June) . Bunnies can get free check ups at participating vets.

The school needs to ensure the rabbits are neutered and immunised even if its same sex pairs.

and here's to the rest of their lives improving.

I agree - whenever I've bought pets I've always researched the care of them. I'm glad you think the email is good. Hopefully it will strike the right chord. Even though we only had them over the weekend I became quite attached to them.

Certainly I will ask the to send some literature. I think the lady at RWA was saying that the children could be taught properly about rabbit care if they had the right resources.

You are awesome OP! It is great that you have stepped up to care for and protect these bunnies (that CLEARLY need someone to advocate for them). And generous of you to donate a new hutch.

Your email is fantastic - really friendly and supportive but making the points it needs to. I don't think the school could possibly be offended by that. Hopefully they take notice and take action accordingly.

Good luck with following it up!

I hope the bunnies will have a much happier life now, thanks to you.

Well, I've just had a very disappointing response from the head:

Dear LottieandMia,

Thank you for your thoughts about the
rabbits and their care and your kind offer to purchase a larger hutch for the school.

Before we started sending the rabbits home, we had a visit from the charity Blue Cross for Pets and they did assemblies for all the children to share the key rules for looking after the rabbits, how best to hold them and the environment that they needed to live in. I showed the demonstrator both the pen that we have built for them and the hutch and she didn't raise any concerns about their suitability.

We obviously want to promote a safe and loving home for the rabbits, whether in school or in peoples' homes and that is why we tried to make clear to parents that they would need to be able to look after the rabbits and provide a safe and spacious environment for them to move around in if they were taken home. To date, there have been no other concerns raised and both the animals seem to be thriving and growing well.

Whilst understanding your concerns, I do think that promoting the care of the animals beyond school is both practical for the school and beneficial to the children too. The school cannot open the Quad area where the animals are based at weekends, as it would require us to open up and lock the main, side and Quad gates each day - as the caretaker does not live on site and has his own family, this would be unreasonable, hence the invitation for the community to take them home.

The purchase of a larger hutch presents problems too, as the one we have will just about fit in most cars, so increasing the hutch size will limit the numbers of people who will be able to look after the rabbits at weekends and diminish the impact they can have.

As a consequence, I would ask you to hold off purchasing anything whilst we review how things go between now and the end of the summer term - this will allow us to see if this is an ongoing issue and if it is, decide how we manage it over the summer break and thereafter.

Thank you for your support and interest in this matter, I will keep you informed as to how we proceed in the future.'

Oh dear

Oh dear, exactly.

I have sent a response saying that the hutch has already been sent and cannot be reversed. And also that I have been advised the current hutch is in breach of the animal welfare act. So what to do now?

• people's

Aside from anything else, you would hope a head teacher understood basic grammar rules!

So WTF am I going to do now? Why on earth would they not accept that this hutch is too small?

Surely they can at least live in the larger hutch at school?

If you can face it I would contact the Blue Cross and tell them the situation, and see what they say. This is what their own website says about rabbit care:

www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/caring-your-rabbit

If I was them I would be pretty concerned to hear that one of their representatives has told the school that rabbits are suitable school pets, that they are suitable to go home with a different family every night, that they should only ever be fed dry food, and that a small wooden box is appropriate accommodation.

I am at the schools response, though I suspect there is some desperate face saving going on too.

Why on earth would they not accept that this hutch is too small?

Because as far as they are concerned, an animal charity has told them it is fine.

I think you need to get back up from the RSPCA about appropriate housing.

Soupdragon - anyone can see that this hutch is too small. They're not lemmings are they? And when the rabbits were purchased they were smaller.

Sorry the lemmings comment referred to the school. As in who just accepts something as read when you have two animals crammed into a living space?

I suppose everyone is thinking I shouldn't have given them back! But really I doubt that would have helped either.

I've just spoken to Blue Cross and they have managed to locate the lady who apparently went into school. They are going to see whether she did endorse this hutch.

I suppose everyone is thinking I shouldn't have given them back

In real life, as opposed to MN, I think everyone would have given them back. By buying the school at hutch you have gone above and beyond.

Will be interesting to find out what the blue cross lady actually said. Did they have any comment on the situation when you phoned them?

Well when I called the lady immediately knew who had gone into the school and remembered it happening. She is going to ask her to give me a call.

I really hope this is not about someone putting their ego above the welfare of the animals I did not say anything accusatory in the first email. This is such a can of worms.

I suppose it is possible that there were crossed wires and that that hutch was deemed ok for baby rabbits?

op thank god there are caring and lovely people like you out there.
Reading the thread I can see how much you have done for the rabbits and also how you are continuing to improve their quality of life.
As another post said you have already gone far beyond what a lot of others would.
Really wish for a successful outcome and we'll done for all your time and effort with this.

RWAF have given the case to an officer who is going to try to get through to them. They looked at the photo and said it's beyond awful and that even rabbits who are reared for meat or rabbits who are tested on are kept in bigger hutches than this. She also said that 2/3 of people who keep rabbits don't provide homes that are big enough for them. She said that the school should be setting an example. Rabbits are supposed to live for over 10 years but in reality they live to only 2 because they are often kept in inadequate conditions :(

The rabbits maybe be physically OK but can't imagine mentally being in a different home every week end.
Poor things. .

Thing is rabbits actually lie out with their legs in a straight line behind them. They can't do this without enough space and their spines will get injured.

I think the head teacher is about my age. When he and I were growing up it was normal for people to keep rabbits in tiny cages. I guess he can't have read into it much.

Oh dear :(