AIBU to call the RSPCA

[Mummybunnies1]

Hello everyone. Long time lurker first time poster here. I decided to join up after something that has been going on for a couple of months.

Background > I got my DD a bunny for her 10th birthday July 2017 (before I get bashed for giving a child a pet as a gift, she had been wanting one for YEARS and we did immense research. She is a rabbit expert and little rabbit is cared for great)

And since then the NDNs child and my DDs friend had been asking for one and eventually in around May/June this year they got her one. It was a rescue I think as it wasn't a baby. I've been great friends with the neighbour since I moved here when my DDs were only babies and they've been best friends with little girl next door since (who is 9 now, my DDs are 10 and 11).

But I've noticed the rabbit isnt looked after as much, basically neglected. NDN is not very strict and if I'm being honest would rather give her children what they want to shut them up. She did ask about how to care for a rabbit beforehand so I thought they'd be great owners but she isnt invested in the rabbit that much. Ours is an indoor rabbit and NDN decided against that so I said it would have to have a hutch to live in and then just recently I found out that they'd been keeping it inside their playhouse. It's a massive wooden thing with two stories and was built for their teenage daughter when she was a child but obviously my DDs friend has it now. At first I thought they'd placed the hutch inside the playhouse until I went round just a couple of weeks ago to see the rabbit to find hay just sprawled about the floor with his food bowl and a cushion. It must be freezing now in winter I felt sorry for the rabbit.

There have been incidents since then with their Yorkshire terrier chasing him around the garden and he has gotten out a few times through their side gate and into the front but theyve managed to catch him until just a week ago when he got out again and they'd had to chasing him up the road and I'd helped until we finally caught him. Poor thing was so shaken up I'd offered to help calm him down but NDN just said put him back into the playhouse alone.

Now DD2 recently just a few days confided in me that an older girl around 13 and her younger sister joined the girls inside the playhouse and had a hold of the NDN rabbit holding him up by his ears and legs upside down. Oh god I was nearly sick imagining it and DD was distraught as she has a cat herself and plays with her sister's rabbit and that older girl has bullied her before because she has Asperger's so she was too timid to stand up and I imagine my DD1 was as well.

My DH has told me to leave it and mind our own business but I can't knowing a poor animal is being neglected and abused right next door.

Should I call the RSPCA? I know bringing it up will just send NDN into defensive mode. They used to have a hamster but it escaped under the playhouse and never came out.

Oh gosh that's long, sorry! Thank you if you read the lot of it

So the rabbit has lots of space, is safely housed and fed?

What on earth do you think the RSPCA are going to do?!

There is no excuse for poor pet owning but there is a lot of it about. Not sure whether the RSPCA would intervene. Can you offer to “adopt” next door’s rabbit?

I'm.not sure about neglected but possibly abused, it doesn't sound as if you have concrete evidence though

Could you offer to take on the rabbit, using "I've heard it's going to be a long, cold winter"?

Sadly, the majority of rabbits and other small pets lead lonely, miserable, monotonous lives in cramped accomodation, their only interactions being with people who don't understand how to handle them/interact with them well.

It's good that you care about the rabbit, but I don't think there's anything at all that you can do, other than offer to have it when they get bored with it.

Tatteredemalion No, it isn't safely housed. Should have mentioned > the playhouse has a latched door but the windows have nothing in them, not even plastic and a fox could easily slither inside or rabbit could even jump up the stairs and fall from the top one. I also noticed a lot of stale pieces of bread which you shouldn't feed a rabbit.

guineapig1 No I wouldn't be able to adopt it unfortunately. I have a very demanding job so that's why it has taken me half a year nearly to notice how badly bunny's being treated

RSPCA are shit. Contact a specialist bunny rescue. If the bunny is as unsafe as you say you could help it "escape" to the rescue.

I would buy some cheap chicken wire and give it to the neighbour to cover the Windows in the playhouse. A playhouse is far better than a hutch!

They sound like arseholes. If nothing else works I would stage a bunny break out, make it look like it’s been taken by a fox or something, and care for it until you can find a decent home for it. But I am quite mental about that sort of thing

I'd ask her if they really want it & then give her local bunny rescues (or offer to call for her if she's a very chaotic kind of person). The rough handling is grim for me. The unsuitable hutch tells me it's not a loved family member like pets should be. You love & spoil them: & dont penny pinch over basic needs.

It will attract rats, poor bunny. Need to be securely housed and kept warm.

If he escapes when they are not there can you catch him and take him to a rescue?

It’s really hard when you know an animal isn’t being taken care of properly and is suffering. People like this make me mad - they like the idea of a pet but the reality is very different. So they shove the poor animals outside.

I think you should bring it up once with the parents. Start with the cruelty- explain your daughter had told you about the older child hurting the bunny. Then suggest if it has become too much work they should surrender it to a shelter. If that doesn’t work take them a cardboard box filled with straw and a blanket - then at least the bunny might have a chance to survive winter

You say your daughter did lots of research and your rabbit is well looked after? You know rabbits ought to have company, don't you? I'd offer to take theirs and let your daughter train it.

Bunnies are better in a playhouse than in a hutch, it should be insulated though, maybe suggest that as the temperature drops. Definitely mention how the rabbit was picked up by it’s ears and back legs!!!!
Bunnies are social animals and should be bonded with another bunny.

Ok, open windows are a different matter - I'm amazed a fox hasn't got it yet!

Still bugger all the RSPCA would do, from everything I've heard about them.

YANBU, poor bunny must be freezing and scared. NDN deserves a slap for their ignorance, rabbits don't do well in draughts.

Sneak it out in the middle of the night and make it look like it escaped. That's what I'd do. If it goes on like this the poor thing will freeze to death or get munched by a fox/dog.

Then take it to a bunny rescue to be rehomed.

Maels We have a cat and he and our bunny are great friends. DDs entertain him a lot, too.

Honestly I know NDNs little girl will eventually get bored of her bunny. Shortly after they'd gotten him DD1 and little girl were playing in our back garden with our bunny while my DD2 played with the bunny next door. I think it is because our bunny is very friendly and a bit of a character and NDNs at this rate will always be terrified. Chased by their dog weekly and freezing at night with children grabbing him. I will definitely tell about the older girl abusing him and offer to chicken wire up the windows in the playhouse.

Taking him in ourselves won't go down too well either, little girl knowing her best friends have taken her bunny. I don't have the guts to kidnap anyway - I have CCTV which overlooks their garden and heaven forbid they ask to see what happened. The footage will come in handy for a rescuer though to see the poor thing being chased by dogs and escaping out.

Contact the rspca if you want but I can't imagine they'd act on it.

If you don't want to actively bunny snatch it then wait till it escapes next time and take it to a sanctuary saying you found it in a park.

I agree with helping them block the windows. A playhouse is a great place for a bunny to live, ours had a summer house and loved it but there were 2 of them so they snuggled. Maybe suggest that within the playhouse they have a box of straw so bunny can keep warm in winter. I would go with trying to educate, particularly because you have been involved in trying to round him up, I think that gives you the right to make helpful suggestions.