(no subject)
I hate to bring bad news (again) but please read on.
The Hayward Rescued Rabbits survived a living hell.
Now that they are safe - they deserve justice.
A Witness tells her story...
Karen L. Courtemanche
Sun. 5/9/04 Saw a posting on craigslist (internet bulletin board) titled “Free Rabbits”. Said they had 50 rabbits. I emailed them to get the address.
Mon. 5/10/04 A woman named Janine emailed me back and gave me the address and directions to her house (see attached). I went to xxxxx Bruno Street in Hayward at 4:30 pm and Janine’s husband answered the door. He told me to go around the side of the garage and through the gate to see the rabbits. I counted 40 in the backyard, most in a fenced area, and a few running loose in the yard. Within the fenced area there was one wooden shed, one metal shed and a low roofed enclosure that ran along the side fence. The ground and all the contents of the sheds were thick with rabbit feces, fur, mud, cobwebs and it all smelled. In this area there was some soiled and wet hay on the ground, but nothing else in terms of food for the rabbits. There were a few water containers, but they were overgrown with algae and full of fur, hay and rabbit feces.
When Janine came home she gave her husband a bag of stale French bread to give to the rabbits. When he threw it to the filthy ground, all the rabbits came running and there was fighting over the bread, It looked to me as if the rabbits were very hungry given their behavior. I asked if he fed them pellets, he said no, just some leftover food from the restaurant they worked at. The appearance of the rabbits ranged from moderately dirty to those completely caked with mud and feces, fur matted bald patches on the coat, eyes closed with apparent infection, ears ripped, ears missing, dangerously thin, and one with a large growth/sac in the genital area (hopping funny). Janine’s husband told me he had been finding dead baby rabbits in the yard, outside of the fenced area, he thought raccoons and cats had been killing and eating them. I asked if he ever thought of protecting the rabbits by locking them up in the shed at night since it had a door that seemed to work. He said no.
I took two rabbits with me on Monday. One who was very thin, had swelling around his face, slack jaw and swayed back and forth while trying to stand, and another who made no effort to move as I approached it. During the one hour I was at the house Janine did not come out to meet or speak with me. I asked her husband if he would be home the next day around the same time (5:30). He said yes and that if I knocked on the door and got no answer, to come around to the back because more people were coming to look at the rabbits and he might be in the yard. I left and drove to the Hayward Animal Shelter and spoke with Officer Sanchez about the situation. He took down the information, photographed the rabbit I took and told me he would follow-up.
Tues.5/11/04 Erin Williams, Christine Morrisey and myself arrived at the Bruno Street house at 5:40 pm. We knocked at the door/rang the doorbell and got no answer. There were two cars in the driveway and two on the street in front of the house. We walked around to the backyard but could not find anybody. The rabbits had no food so I gave them some carrots I had brought with me. We went back to the front of the house and spoke with a neighbor who lives across the street, asking if she had seen the residents of the house. She had not. Janine and her husband arrived home at 6:00pm and we went to the backyard with her husband. He said it was fine that we take pictures and we asked him questions about caring for rabbits. He told us that during the winter months the rabbits had “worms” on their coats, and that they eventually “go away”. He said he could not tell the difference between the girls and the boys and had never made any attempt to separate them to stop the litters of babies. Many of the questions we asked about rabbit care he could not answer. On this date we found many dead rabbits in the wooden shed, along with bones and skulls. He told us that 12 rabbits had been picked up the night before (after I left) and taken to a ranch in Manteca. We took 3 rabbits with us this visit. One whose ears were completely chewed off and had one eye completely glued shut with infection, one who was having trouble hopping and was found to have a large abscess on a testicle. And one who was covered in feces and matted fur.
Wed. 5/12/04 We were asked by Officer Taft to meet her at the house on Bruno Street to help catch the rabbits. We waited around the corner of the address until animal control arrived. We were given instructions and entered the backyard. We caught rabbits by hand and with nets. The only food that was available to the rabbits was the bread that was given two nights earlier. It was now rock hard. We caught 20+ rabbits, all who were filthy, matted and frightened from the ordeal.
These rabbits were clearly neglected and abused as they were kept in filthy conditions and forces to live with their dying and dead companions. They were denied routine feedings of appropriate rabbit food and not provided with a clean water source. They were allowed to routinely fight and were not provided with medical treatment for their wounds of their infections that followed. They were not protected from predators or given proper protection from the elements. They were allowed to live on top of their own waste and forced to fight for food.
Body embedded in hardened feces covering the floor/ground of the shed. Rabbit bodies, in all stages of decomposition, were found.
While hand-digging through the mounds of feces looking for burrows and nests, we found many skulls, skeletons and hides.
One of the bunnies rescued. His names Lance.
another rabbit rescued. This one is Eileen"
What can you do?
Send a letter to....
Tom Rogers
Hayward District Attorney
24405 Amador Street, Room 104
Hayward, CA 94544
Phone 510-670-5100
FAX 510-670-5159
Reference Case# 378403
For more information and more witness's stories *click here*
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