The news came out late last night-- Debe Bell was convicted--along with that news came the information that the JUDGE would NOT permit the rabbits be referred to as LIVESTOCK!!! In My Book, the judge biased the whole proceeding! WHAT HAPPENED to being IMPARTIAL?

I am SO ANGRY!!!---

Oh my goodness. What a horrible precedent the judge is setting. Very discouraging.

I'm on the fence on this ...one i don't agree with the judge rabbits are multi purpose but the photos i've seen if they are her rabbits are shameful.Even if it was only a few cages like that they should not have been in that state.Perhaps she should have been told to downsize to make it easier for her to manage?

Where did you find photos? I never saw any, but was curious about it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... abbit_Shed


I would hope that these are not really her rabbits???

I dunno who's rabbits those are, but the poor things!! Whoever they belong to deserves to have had them taken away, with mountains of turds like that!!

Bad Habit- The media only published pics of 5 or 6 cages out of almost 100 cages-- AND,Ms Bell was not permitted to record what the 'rescuers' were doing--. It is believed that many pics of rabbits in cages were staged-- a practice often used by 'rescues' and other AR folks. This was a civil rights case-- as there was not warrant when the animals were seized, no warrant went the property was trespassed on, and no warrant when a person with no permission to enter the barn opened the barn doors. The owner of those rabbits has over 25 years of work invested in them-- 25 years of grand champions, bloodline development, AND advocating for agriculture.You cannot see the automatic watering system in some of the cages, you cannot see the the weights and flesh conditions of the rabbits-- And the temps at that time were unusually high-p all those rabbits would have been molting like a bad toupee.

It is because of THIS case that people are taking measured amounts of bedding, wtting it down, and re measuring it- to show how stuff swells up. People are actually doing small , homegrown 'experiments' to show how much waste any given rabbit can produce--
So, if you have a rabbit for ANY purpose, other than as a foo-foo pet-- be aware-- you could be next-- also, be aware, if you show-- you better have health certificates for any animal you take over a state border---

My rabbit is just a "foo-foo pet", and I wasn't into rabbits when this went down so can only judge on what I've seen here. I don't imagine a mountain of turds could get that high in a week, and I'm not judging on anything other than those pics. If she had other rabbits that were perfectly clean, then why were those cages photographed so turdfilled? And I don't know that they even are her rabbits, but as far as those pics go, if they are her rabbits and the living conditions she was supplying, then I agree with removing them.

I'm not trying to say anything against breeders/showers/raisers for meat, and I hope I'm not ruffling too many feathers. But those pics made me want to cry for those rabbits, because I know I'd never want to live in a house with a turd mountain in it. I'm also not saying how the police went about doing it was correct, either. But again, the rabbits in those pictures were not being properly cared for, regardless of who they belonged to.

Actually... there were no police involved in the seisure. Animal Control went with a whole lot of 'rescue' people AND media coverage. Took rabbits out of their wire bottom cages in a building that had a cooling system running. Opened the doors of that building allowing the 90 degree heat to enter , Then put the rabbits into solid bottom dog crates in the heat...Then went and got a warrant. Quite a few of those rabbits were project animals for 4-Hers that were living there. The kids helped with the cage cleaning and it was scheduled to be done about 2 days after the seisure.

As far as 'turd mountains'... we have rabbits that will use one corner of their cages for the poop corner... Oh yes... some bunnies will make a version of Mt Rainier in that corner.

What makes me sad about the whole mess is there doesn't seem to be Any process of...AC working WITH people they believe to have problems. Nope...let's just grab the animals and run. Speaking Nationally not just locally.

Those rabbits were well fed and in very good condition especially for the heat... well fed rabbits do tend to produce a lot of manure and yes if its all in one corner CAN build up quite high in a week. Also don't put yourself in the rabbit's place, a rabbit probably doesn't see much wrong with their turds being in the same place they are...

I wonder whats going to happen to all those bunnies.
Those cages look like they were getting close to cleaning day, but I have seen a lot worse, the rabbits themselves look fine really, not counting those poor angoras, wow.
I could understand a bit of those photos being staged but she also had a lot of rabbits, that can get away from you quickly, animal control just needs to pick the right time for their media storm.
People should not keep angoras if they don't have the time to care for the coats, you could probably get those matts in a week or two, So Much Fur!

The angoras had been given to her to send to a Rapter Rehab place for food. She got them in bad condition.

I provided a temperature chart using national weather service data for that day-- Debe's barn measured 84 degrees several hours AFTER the cooling system had been shut down and the doors opened-- this was on a 95 degree day!!! Across the country-- a couple Colorado temps read 40 and 50-- they were at elevations MUCH higher than Debe's--The only temps within 5 degrees of 'normal' for the day were in coastal Louisiana and Florida. The rest of the temperatures were AT LEAST 5 degrees, if not more, higher than Normal for the date. In fact, Ann Arbor, Michigan AND Dallas, Texas registered 100 degrees!!! Now, was anyone concerned about temps rabbits were living in in those areas, other than their owners? I think Not!! I Know on that day, my rabbits were in 95 degree heat, on my patio, while it was over 100 degrees in my apartment!

And BlackBunny-- the rabbits were ALL spayed,. neutered, and adopted out LONG before the first hearing-- before the HRS even had legal right to do so. But then, they did not have the legal right to take them, either...

I think it is very wrong how the police, media, HRS went about violating her civil rights! I hope she gets a good lawyer. I do however think that the conditions of the cages and the animals(going to dog food or not) was deplorable. I have cages with pans and that is not one weeks worth. More like two or three and the build up of urine on the guards is many months of not cleaning. That aside, she should have been notified, fined for the conditions if they still exsisted and then allowed to rectify the problem. The illegal search and seizure of her valuable live stock was a scary reminder of how slippery a slope it is to lose our amendment rights. Those pictures and all of the property that was confiscated illegally should be returned to her. Not to mention the defamation of her character that was done by publishing those illegally obtained pictures. She should counter sue in a civil case. She needs to get the ACLU to take her case. They don't just take race issues.

Sorry fixed the NAACP oops.

The case is done-- the trial is over--At this point, a good attorney will be looking at what went 'wrong' and filing for an appeal based on technicalities-- Some of you are thinking this just happened-- no, it has NOT just happened-- the 'raid' was LAST JULY!!! Meanwhile, there probably is not a one of us in the United states, who is not residing in a state without pending legislation that is being pushed by AR groups. One of the big issues is the fact that rabbits are not considered to be anything more than pets-- so few people understand using rabbits as LIVESTOCK-- All the animals that were confiscated are GONE. get it? GONE!!NO ONE even gets to use them to continue with her breeding program genetics. All HER breeding is 'terminated'-- she will have to start over...

Some of you are not seeing the bigger picture---I can't help that--