Rabbit raid?

[redhen]

Quote:
Nah... people that have more than one breed of dog and breed them arent necessiarly a puppy mill, IMO....
Its the conditions they live in that define it for ME....
Its just my opinion...

 

[arabianequine]

Quote:
Nah... people that have more than one breed of dog and breed them arent necessiarly a puppy mill, IMO....
Its the conditions they live in that define it for ME....
Its just my opinion...

Exactly redhen, you know why cause if the conditions are clean and animals cared for it shows they care about the animals if not then they only care about the money.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I didn't notice that on the last photo, there are j-feeders and water bottles. I'm so confused about the whole bowl/auto watering system/bottle situation.

Deb, the angora in the full on bottom shot mainly has stained hind feet. The (fuzzy lop? Argh, still so bad with the lop breeds) lop and the three lionhead's huddled together have staining on all feet and less room that isn't soiled in the cage, but one of the dwarfs has staining just on the hind legs as it probably backed up to poop. Another photo of a dwarf is somewhat overexposed plus the hind legs are hidden by the rabbit, so may also have staining that did not show. I've seen some groups purposefully do some pretty amazingly misleading things with photos firsthand, but have much less skepticism over these photos personally, especially since they match the positive news story that was run on the same rabbitry here:
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8422075

 

[sommrluv]

If there's not a gag order issued by a judge, the police can issue whatever statements and info they like.

When you break the law, your entitlement to privacy kind of goes downhill.


I lost all ability to even try to support her when she said on the radio "I'm PROUD of my barn, those pictures don't embarrass me."

She said it's ok for them to look like that because they are livestock and that the sheriff only released the "worst of the worst".

If you google "six bells rabbits" you'll come across the guy with the links to the radio shows.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Heres what bugs me as a farmer. The rabbit group is actively trying to stop people from having rabbits. She happens to be the breeder out of thousands in the state that the news shows for the other side of the story. Then she is the one breeder of the thousands in the state that gets raided. Not by a group of cops but by the rabbit group an 1 cop? The group breaks in to a closed barn breaking federal search an seizure laws. Now they are posting these pictures that were at the least obtained illegal by questionable people with an agenda to shut her down. The only reason I can see to release these pictures to make people forget how wrong this raid was.

When this story broke most of us did not know who she was or what here rabbits looked like but we defended her. Not because we new the allegations were false but because of what they did an how that translates to effecting all animal owners.
Weather she is a bad breeder is up to a court to decide. Weather she is or is not has no effect on me. What the cops helped this animal rights group do does.

 

[sommrluv]

Did you read the information on the warrant or listen to the radio shows?

The police received a complaint. They knock on the door. Someone answers the door and identifies himself as living there and lets them into the barn.

That was the ex-husband who has lived on the property for years. He never even bothered calling the owner of the property, her neighbor did. The police found the conditions, and a dead rabbit, and they told Debbie that the dead rabbit changes everything. Now, taken out of context that comment seems reactionary and odd. We all have animals just drop dead sometimes.

Now that you know the cages are piled deep in feces and the matting is pretty ridiculous, and the (independent) vets have examined rabbits to find eye infections and tacky gums proving dehydration, it starts to make a little more sense. The reason the dead rabbit changed everything is because of the laws in place, if they were just violations, she probably would have been let off with a fine.

Once animals are dying seemingly as a cause of bad conditions, the officer's hands are tied. More than likely they go to the yellow pages to find a rescue group who is willing and able to take that amount of rabbits. Do I think the HRS is right in some of their views? No, I don't. I haven't seen them tied to any lobbying or legislation that shows they are trying to outlaw meat rabbits or anything like that, however.

I think some of the sites really vilified the officers involved now that the whole picture is emerging.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Nope I have not seen any radio show cause you did not share a link. What shows up in Google is different for everyone.

I did read the warrant (after the fact) which stated that he just lived in the house..... The barn is not the house an is an external closed structure an is part of the business an he has no power to give them right to search. The ex husband also stated that the cop implied that they had a warrant an he had to let them search.

The warrant (after the fact) stated that there was no ventilation or water an that rabbits cant be kept it temps over 80*F.

The pictures show fans and water nipples an any livestock person south of the mason dixion knows that 80*F thing is hogwash. Yet to see any proof it was that hot anyway before opening the barn. An they have not denied that there was a swamp cooler.
I also have to assume the rabbit group were there from the beginning because they were there before they got the warrant but no where does it say when they were called.

Yes there was issues with the rabbits but the search is what makes me sick.

 

[pirtykitty]

Not trying to rock the boat or make waves but how do we know that the pictures posted are really pictures of her rabbits ....

 

[CYGChickies]

We basically don't know anything right now. We'll just have to keep updating our opinions and finally once the hearing and everything is done we'll decide which way we fall. It's par for the course with "high profile" cases like these. They're so tempting to get riled up over and by the end everyone's just exhausted.

I don't know how much she cares for her animals--if she's a moneygrubbing torture-mongrel or just a tired, overworked woman too afraid to ask for help in fear of consequences. I just hate seeing emotional spins disbanding the real justice system. I would like to try and keep a level head even though yes I was horrified by those images and know that I would never do such a thing to my own rabbits. I also don't like Big Brother giving interest groups too much rule over us.

CYG

 

[debilorrah]

My friend that knows Ms. Bell was just visited by police and the same group Ms. Bell was raided by. No warrant, just a complaint. She did not let them in and said they can see what they need to see by looking through the fence.

She was told she is ok because they are outside and not in a barn. How stupid is that???

ETA: There is a $2000 reward in that county for people who report rabbit owners. They get the reward if the report is founded. My friends report was unfounded.