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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To "name and shame" her on Facebook.

238 replies

BlueEyesWhiteDragon · 26/03/2022 13:21

I've come home to 2 terrified rabbits sitting in a cage in my garden. The bloody things were surrounded by the billion cats that live here who are fascinated.

I've relocated them to a very old rickety hutch from when we had rabbits a million years ago and chucked them some hay, carrots and water and told the DSs at least 72 times that we are not keeping them whilst they fight over names.

CCTV shows a woman dropping them over the gate. She obviously didn't realise I've got CCTV and I have a nice clear view of her face.

I mean I clearly won't be returning the rabbits but WIBU to stick her on Facebook in a "what the hell were you doing" post?

OP posts:
Notanotherwindow · 26/03/2022 14:33

If you're the only house for a while I reckon she found them loose and assumed they must be yours.

ronjobbins · 26/03/2022 14:34

@SevenWaystoLeave

I'd contact the RSPCA and hand the footage to them
This Leave FB out of it.
Eggshausted · 26/03/2022 14:36

@OmgIThinkILikeYou

I would assume she thought they had escaped and popped them back over the fence if they were outside your garden.

Naming and shaming on fb when you know none of the facts is a pretty shit thing to do. You could ruin her life with the amount of hate that will be sent her way.

So she went and got a cage, put the rabbits in it, then just left them without knocking ? Yep. oK!
Merula · 26/03/2022 14:37

I follow a lot of rabbit rescue places and unfortunately most are full at the moment. Poor things have been dumped.

Soubriquet · 26/03/2022 14:40

Rabbits are bloody hard to catch, so I bet they belonged to her and she just wanted rid.

Was it known you had rabbits where you lived? Maybe she thought you would take care of them because you like rabbits

GoodJanetBadJanet · 26/03/2022 14:41

Don't start a witch hunt on FB for goodness sake.
Nothing good ever comes out of those

NeverDropYourMooncup · 26/03/2022 14:45

Wanted/needed to get rid of the rabbits, rabbit rescues are full right now - solution presents itself to her in a house that loves animals (as per billions of cats) and has a rickety old hutch in the garden (so rabbits are not an alien species to the household), plus children for extra 'Can we keep them?' energy.

It would work on me, as I'd be arguing with the children for the best names by now, not trying to work out how to move them along to somebody else. But I am the person who has never quite shut their shed door just in case a homeless cat needs somewhere to have a litter of little black kittens, despite having slightly less than a billion of the wee furry shites already.

IncompleteSenten · 26/03/2022 14:50

Is it not more likely that she was giving them away and dropped them off at the wrong house?

Not good at all to just leave them obviously but I'd assume it was "leave them in my garden" rather than dump on a stranger's doorstep

I would post to FB but not to 'name and shame' but to say I think there's been a mix up. Someone left these rabbit at my door, is anyone rehoming rabbits because they've been left with me in error.

StopLying · 26/03/2022 14:53

Maybe she thought they were you'd lost them, and provided the cage to get them back to you safely. I wouldn't go to Facebook though to name and shame, that could backfire horribly. You could ask on the neighbourhood app if anyone has lost them. I'd contact to police or RSPCA or something, see if anyone has reported it.

DelurkingLawyer · 26/03/2022 14:55

Of course they’ve been dumped.

Lots of people bought rabbits in lockdown and are now getting rid of them, and many rabbit rescues are overwhelmed.

They are sold by pet shops as a cheap and “easy” pet but they cost a lot in vet fees, because they need vaccinating, and neutering to stop them fighting. They should no more be kept in a hutch than a cat or dog should. They also don’t usually like being picked up and cuddled so they aren’t good pets for younger children.

WiddlinDiddling · 26/03/2022 14:55

I'd go on facebook and ask if anyone recognises her, as she's dropped off two rabbits in a carrier and you think she's left them at the wrong house.

If you pitch it like 'there's been a mistake and surely someone is worrying about these rabbits' and not 'OMG THE EVIL BARBARIAN BUNNY ABANDONER'... you may get to the truth :)

TheArtfulBlogger · 26/03/2022 15:02

@PintOfBovril

They may have escaped and she thought she was doing a 'good turn' by popping them back? Shaming people on Facebook is a bit extreme isn't it? Can't we just get annoyed privately these days?
And just leave them without knocking? And thus giving away a free cat/rabbit basket too?

Unlikely

Original poster
BlueEyesWhiteDragon · 26/03/2022 15:10

I'm not going to go all gung ho on Facebook. I was just annoyed. I'd come in harassed, we've dealt with a literal ton of fly tipping this week, and then I nearly tripped over the pair of them because I wasn't looking. I've chilled a bit now and I admit they kind of cute.

I've posted saying we've had 2 rabbits left at house in error anyone missing any. All polite and cheery on the outside with a seething centre on the inside lol.

I'm currently still saying they not staying but I am sitting in the garden watching them explore the run I've just borrowed from chap down road and am treating myself to a a cup of tea and a KitKat.

DS2 wants to call them Stew and Pot - he thinks he's hilarious. DS1 wants to call the brown one Choco and will conceded to pot for the other.

It's been ages since we've had rabbits. We'd have to make them a pen and all the bloody front is artifical grass now. They'd either have to go in the field or we'd have to returf some of the front.

OP posts:
LaraDeSalle · 26/03/2022 15:11

Maybe she was from ‘Just Eat’ and as you weren’t in she left them over the fence in a safe place. Those drivers are always in a hurry.

JennyHogon · 26/03/2022 15:20

The whole 'report people on Facebook' is repellent.

I know you've put something on Facebook, OP, but I'd delete it and go down the RSPCA route. The problem with asking if anyone has lost rabbits is that any weirdo can say that they are theirs, and you'd have no way of knowing whether it's true or not. They could be as batshit as the woman who "returned" them to you.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 26/03/2022 15:21

Awww, lovely bunnies!
One of them looks much younger than the other, is it smaller? Wondering if it could be mother and child rabbit?
I like Stew and Pot as names, hilarious!

Soubriquet · 26/03/2022 15:21

Awww they are cute bunnies.

I like Choco and Stew Wink

BanjoKnockers · 26/03/2022 15:22

You don't have to name or shame, but you can still post the video. Just post the video and some factual text explaining that the rabbits were left in your garden, can anyone help by identifying her. You don't need to speculate as to why they were left. And she has no grounds for complaint if you simply say what happened.

Jbh333 · 26/03/2022 15:28

It’s so easy to say no one likes being sick, it’s normal etc. i can’t imagine being scared of snakes or spiders for example but I understand if someone had a phobia. I spent many years obsessing of being sick. Now it’s improved after children and the torture of them all going through day nursery (I’m not kidding when I say the bugs caught were above and beyond what I was imagining). I still worry about it every single day though would be nice to one day not think about it.

DiamondBright · 26/03/2022 15:29

They're so cute, I couldn't cope with rabbits in a hutch personally but they are cute.

I'd call the police non emergency number for advice, they would probably (around here anyway) post the video on Facebook themselves to identify the woman. It's appalling behaviour abandoning animals, any suggestion that this is anything other than that is ridiculous.

Stigsmother · 26/03/2022 15:33

So cuteGrin think you got yourself some bunnies

StopLying · 26/03/2022 15:34

Those bunnies are adorable.

LBFseBrom · 26/03/2022 15:37

Cats don't hurt rabbits for goodness sake, it's natural for them to be fascinated but no harm is intended.

I had a rabbit and cats; one of my cats formed an attachment to the rabbit, it was really sweet, they ran around playing together. Unfortunately it all ended when the rabbit tried to mate with my cat.

Foxes will prey on a rabbit but if the hutch is secure, it will be all right.

StopLying · 26/03/2022 15:38

And just leave them without knocking? And thus giving away a free cat/rabbit basket too?

Well I don't think the op was at home when they were delivered, as she said she'd come home to find them. So the woman may or may not have knocked.

Maybe she'll be back for the basket. Or maybe she doesn't want it / no longer has a need for it.

It's impossible to say either way really without asking the person.

Throwntothewolves · 26/03/2022 15:41

People do dump animals, both their own former pets and stolen ones. My parents have had at least half a dozen cats dumped in their garden over the years, and one dog. They have a big garden and live just far enough out of town that the poor animals won't find their way home again Sad
The dog was stolen apparently, they called the local vet who knew it and called the owner. Their neighbour had taken it and dumped it after they fell out. Some people are real arseholes.

Report to the RSPCA and call the local vet, they may be able to track down the owner and establish if they were stolen