Rabbit Confiscation
On Monday, August 9, 2004, over 140 rabbits were confiscated from a single home in St. Anthony, MN, a suburb of the Twin Cities. While over 115 of these rabbits were already dead or so horribly ill that the only humane option was to euthanize them, there were 22 survivors. MCRS became heavily involved in helping these 22 rabbits.
A summary of what has happened with the confiscation so far follows. For updates on the surviving rabbits, keep an eye on our blog at the bottom of this page.
News coverage:
There were 141 rabbits confiscated:
- 77 were already dead and stored in a freezer
- 42 were euthanized due to extremely poor health
- 22 rabbits survived initial triage at the shelter
Virtually all the rabbits had some sort of dental problems. The most common was molar spurs which are likely the result of poor diet. MCRS arranged for one of our recommended rabbit veterinarians to go to the shelter Monday, August 23, 2004 and train veterinary staff on how to correct some of the most common rabbit dental problems. This helped not only the rabbits from this confiscation, but numerous future rabbits with minor dental issues
These rabbits came from a woman who has a history of "collecting" animals – the August 2004 confiscation was her FOURTH, representing over 600 individual rabbits entering the shelter system in the past seven years. Watch for updates on this case as it proceeds through the criminal courts. What makes a person keep so many animals? Find out more...
In addition to the 22 rabbits from this confiscation, MCRS has one of the rabbits that survived from her last confiscation – five years ago – back in our care and still looking for his forever home. He was adopted out for a couple years, bonded to a sweet girl bunny, and then returned to MCRS. Read more about Gizmo and Sadie on Petfinder.com.
Want to help? In addition to volunteer opportunities, MCRS could use cash donations to help defray the medical costs for the buns needing extra veterinary care. Send checks to MCRS.
