Rachel Parsons (left) from Croydon Animal Samaritans, was contacted by a woman terrified of her dwarf rabbit Midge (right) (Picture: SWNS)
A woman who bought an ‘aggressive’ dwarf rabbit on Gumtree was forced to give it away because she became terrified of the animal.
She bought the 14-month-old Netherland Dwarf rabbit – one of the smallest breeds – after seeing an advert on the popular website.
The woman had the rabbit, called Midge, for six months but eventually got in touch with Croydon Animal Samaritans to say she was ‘scared to interact’ with him because he was ‘very aggressive’.
Rachel Parsons, who works at the south London animal welfare charity, is now warning others about buying pets on sites such as Gumtree.
She says it’s difficult to know what conditions the animals have been kept in and how they’ve been treated.
Talking about the case of Midge, she said: ‘The owner said the rabbit was very aggressive and was biting so I asked if maybe he was nervous and if he was castrated, and she said he was.
‘They contacted the breeder but he was very unhelpful and said he didn’t want the rabbit back.
Midge is not showing aggression at his foster home says Rachel (Picture: Croydon Animal Samaritans / SWNS)
‘Basically, he told her he doesn’t breed rabbits that have a default like that.’
Rachel decided to contact the breeder herself, who told her the same thing, brutally adding that ‘if they’re not right, they will just go in the bin’.
‘I then told him I was from a rescue and he said all his rabbits are trained to be incredibly tidy and to use their litter trays and they don’t spray.
‘The way he talked about them was in a very disciplinary way. It wasn’t that he was talking about his beloved pets.’
Rachel said it was essential rabbits have a buddy and Midge may have been aggressive because he was alone.
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She added: ‘We don’t know if the rabbit had been mistreated, the breeder was obviously saying he wasn’t but when I asked him what sort of space the rabbits were kept in he said they were in hatches in a shed.
‘When the owner went to pick up Midge he was on the doorstep, which is when alarm bells would have been ringing.’
She said the breeder was part of the British Rabbit Council, an organisation which puts on rabbit ‘shows’ that are ‘incredibly cruel’.
‘It’s a very outdated hobby where rabbits are kept in cages and judges take them out and prod and poke them and grade them like they’re a cake.
Rachel advises against buying rabbits on sites like Gumtree (Picture: SWNS)
‘If this rabbit was used for that, it would …read more
Source:: Metro
