Hmm....what a debate. Every breeder of purebred rabbits has to deceide wether to sell the 'pet' quality babies or cull them. Now by cull I mean, to put them down or kill them, to be quite honest. I haven't deceided what to do yet, I don't have any litters yet, but when I do, the decision needs to be made. Let's talk about both choices-I'd love to hear your opinions too.
Selling- Selling babies that do no conform to breed standards as pets can be rewarding as their new owners are thrilled to have their new pet. You can make a little money by selling pets(raising babies for money should never be the breeders intentions though!-it makes me mad when backyard breeders have bunny mills all to make a dollar!!) and if there is a market in your area, a pet rabbit may spark the interest in buying show quality stock later on and strive to better the breed-you never know. *The down side to selling babies as pets is that after the cuteness wears off, people don't want them. They end up being turned loose outside to suffer and fend for themselves or at the local shelters. The thought of one of my babies suffering and being neglected would break my heart.:-(
Culling- Most people are repulsed by this as even being a 'choice' and honestly, I, myself could not kill my babies. It would scar me mentally-really! Now my husband says he could do it for me-I believe him. lol Many breeders do choose to cull once the kits are born. If there is a visible peanut or a mismarked kit they will cull them then. And then cull once more when they are about 12-16 weeks when you can tell what kind of type they will have. In a way, it does better the breed...the rabbits with many faults aren't sold to other breeders to keep those faults in the breed. You breed the best and keep the best. Culling prevents overpopulation of pet rabbits that end up at shelters. I'm sorry if I make pet owners sound bad, they aren't all bad, it just seems like here lately I've seen a lot of ads for 'free rabbits' all because they no longer want them. Hopefully some pet bunnies will find good homes, but with woolies most folks don't keep pet rabbits in their houses. Woolies would die in any heat above 90 degrees.
So which method is better for everyone and the breed as a whole? I don't know. What will I do?...I still don't know. Lol I don't want to add to the overpopulation problem and increase my babies chances of animal abuse but I also don't think I have what it takes to kill them. If that makes any sense at all... What are your thoughts on this?
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1 year ago
1 comment:
Dearest Lindsey,
I have seriously given thought to this issue many many times.
Firstly, it does not only happen in US where it is expected to have highly intellectual people with great principles & ethics. It happens everywhere that people tend to exploit the little things that seemed to be able to pull in some sort of "profits". Here in Malaysia, people pounce on every opportunity to earn a quick dollar whether ethically or unethically. That is the reason why we have rabbit breeds which are not found in the ARBA list. Some of the pets sold here are worst than pet quality and they tend to have very bad genetic make ups as well.
Now, coming into your question to whether or not to sell pet quality poses a risk for the rabbit to fall into the hands of backyard breeder who does not bother about breed standards at all. The pet qualities get bred irresponsibly st the end of the day and that defeats the purpose of keeping the rabbit alive in the first place. I think it matters most on how do we ensure that pet quality breeding does not happen at all. I was hoping for some legislation to be passed to ensure this.
On the topic of culling (killing). I would do it if I have no conscience. But I have a soft heart for living creatures. Imagine the look of death haunting you every now and then is not desirable at all. I know it is a very good solution to keep the best and not contribute to overpopulation, I think culling is more of a cure than preventive measure. To prevent we simply breed less.
It is hard for me to decide too on the issue of culling. At the moment, I rather look for good homes for my bunnies than to kill them off.
Also, in my opinion, when we offer our pets for adoption, we may stop someone buying pet qualities and through that, we can somehow pull down the demands and hopefully put the backyard breeders out of business.
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