About Me |
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I'm Sarah and I run Jack Rabbits. My love for rabbits started in childhood when we had four rabbits over the years. While my family and I loved our pet rabbits, looking back I realise that we did not know enough about them to care for them correctly. They certainly were not abused or purposefully neglected but they did live in small traditional hutches, lived alone, and were not vaccinated or neutered/spayed. But that was 20 years ago when rabbit welfare information was not as readily available. Ignorance is no excuse these days! Three years ago, my boyfriend bought me two rabbits from a breeder in London, where we lived at the time, and my love of bunnies was rekindled. What has happened in the last three years as a result of these two lovely creatures coming into my life has been amazing. In my attempt to provide the two rabbits, Monkey and Kato, with the best life I could provide I learnt a lot. We had already made mistakes. You should never buy an animal as a gift. The supposed two females were in fact a male and a female and could easily have created unwanted litters had we not realised in time. The hutch we had was too small. So, I bought a large hutch, had them neutered and spayed, vaccinated, wormed, insured and spent a lot of time with them. They had regular check ups at the vets, a diet that was as close to that of their wild cousins as possible and I learnt how to trim their nails, feed them by hand when ill, groom them, provided toys to prevent boredom and so much more. As a result I had two of the most content, well behaved and healthy rabbits ever! Unfortunately, Kato passed away in March this year but Monkey lives happily with her two new companions. I became aware of just how many rabbits are handed into rescue centres every year (35,000) and now think that breeding, especially casual breeding for financial gain is morally wrong. I urge people to rescue not buy and I wish that animals were not sold in pet shops. Yet, the journey did not end there. While educating myself about the plight of rabbits I inadvertently discovered many other animal welfare issues. The dark side of horse and greyhound racing, of circuses and sealife centres and the meat and dairy industry. BIoodsports, puppy mills, animal testing, chained dogs, culls, hunting, the fur industry, the list goes on and on. I discovered PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Animal Aid, BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection), Hillside Animal Sanctuary, Compassion in World Farming and many more. I have been a vegetarian for two years now and am almost vegan. I am against eating animals, wearing animals, testing on animals and using animals for entertainment. Despite, finding it hard sometimes, these four uses of animals are everywhere once you can recognise them, I feel liberated by my choices. My views are often met with prejudice, ignorance and sometimes contempt but I stand firm. Animals are my equal and I will help to save as many as I can. |
 Kato |
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