I think I am finally ready to share...(update-sentenced)

I'm so sorry that you are going through this. It can really be amazing how people can act normal and put on a show like that when in reality that is not the case. It sounds like she fooled many people into believing her lies. You had no way of knowing. At least now she won't be able to neglect anything else.

What a horrible situation for those animals. I'm glad the sentence seems to be severe enough.

Any word on Snow, Kenya, and Kenya's kits?

Glad she got banned from owning animals. I just hope that's actually upheld where you are. I've seen a few cases here where people were banned and then ended up having more animals at some point. I hope she actually gets some mental help for her issues.

JenerationX":3is5cw86 said:

I just hope that's actually upheld where you are. I've seen a few cases here where people were banned and then ended up having more animals at some point.

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Unfortunately the SPCA doesn't have the resources to keep tabs on all offenders and inspections are based on complaints If she moves to a new town it's likely she can start hoarding again and won't get caught unless her new neighbours complain.

Thankfully her name is out there and a quick search of Google should ward people off from selling to her but I know I don't google every pet buyer (although, I have lately after selling a rabbit to a sociopath last year :x )

MaggieJ":2gpi1a9h said:

It's good that she has a lifelong ban on owning animals. Someone that disturbed is not to be trusted with them.

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A friend of mine(also a rabbit breeder, in the same boat as me with this - she sold/gave rabbits to this woman as well) has pointed out that once the probation is lifted, she'll be able to move and start all over again.

At this point we are torn between adding her to a few "bad review" websites on FB, or simply continuing to follow things along.

From what I've heard (not official, not in any news stories), the woman was essentially buying up large loads of rabbits(and cavies, and I imagine there were other species in her "collection"), going to that house(which was half of a DUPLEX... I can't IMAGINE how the people who shared a wall with her felt), dropping them off, and leaving again, until she had another load of animals to drop off.

I wouldn't normally make this kind of comparison... But it almost feels like she was running an animal concentration camp.

The worst part for me is still the dog. Chuck slept in his crate last night because he was sick of me squeezing him whenever I thought of that poor puppy.

I also explained to both Elsa and Stitch that they are very lucky to be alive, since she transported them and they spent ~2wks in her "care".

Dood":3vm33ccv said:

Unfortunately the SPCA doesn't have the resources to keep tabs on all offenders and inspections are based on complaints If she moves to a new town it's likely she can start hoarding again and won't get caught unless her new neighbours complain.

Thankfully her name is out there and a quick search of Google should ward people off from selling to her but I know I don't google every pet buyer (although, I have lately after selling a rabbit to a sociopath last year :x )

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We had a goat and horse hoarder here years ago. It finally caught up with her and then she was in the news again in the same situation. Now that I think about it, it was a little over 2 years later.

I know it was hard for you to post this and I thank you for doing so. I didn't know there were such people, to buy animals and just neglect them to death is inconceivable to me. I've never understood vandalism but this is even less understandable, like vandalizing one's own property. I know that sometimes pets die from neglect or ignorance of the owner but I've never heard of it done on such a scale. I suspect you were taken in because you also could not even imagine such a thing, who could? Don't blame yourself, as you said the lady told a good story, you could not have known.

Just found this thread looking for a section that I could post a similar topic.... First, I'm so sorry this happened. What a dreadful feeling. Surely she was not well.

A friend of mine recently helped me purchase back 4 of my rabbits that were being neglected. The woman never even paid me for them (she just "owed" me...). She listed them for sale as "healthy" and I found out by accident that they were for sale A friend bought them and is helping them to recover right now (The woman didn't want to give them back to me when I asked her to..). They were bone-thin and matted.

I wished I'd had a contract selling them, so I would have been able to force her to relinquish them if they were being neglected or abused. Do any of you have a good contract that could help prevent something like this? Would it even work?

Such a shame there are people out there who really don't deserve animals.

coyotejoe":257jxmn2 said:

I didn't know there were such people, to buy animals and just neglect them to death is inconceivable to me.

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I know... I can't and don't want to wrap my brain around it, really.

Zinnia":257jxmn2 said:

I wished I'd had a contract selling them, so I would have been able to force her to relinquish them if they were being neglected or abused. Do any of you have a good contract that could help prevent something like this? Would it even work?

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You should start your own separate thread for this, so you will get the attention you need.

I'm glad you got your rabbits back, even if you had to buy them from someone who never paid you for them to begin with. Those are some blessed rabbits.

I google every buyer. Call it weird, but the first person who wanted to buy from me asked for a whole litter of 8 week old rabbits. Google turned up his rather uncommon name on a ton of large snake enthusiast websites.

I asked him about it, and he was very forthright about buying the fryers for his snakes.

He didn't live feed and knew how to dispatch. Cool. I sold him the fryers and still feel better about that transaction than any pet sale I've ever made.

However, the habit of searching buyers has stuck with me.

Not everyone can be found online however, and those with more common names can be REALLY hard to search.

:hijacked:

I find searching their email address and see what classified ads or forums it crops up on can give a good some hints to the type of person they are.

If I had done this with the abuser I sold a rabbit to last year I would have learned she always has ads up looking for animals and has owned at least 8 dogs in 4 years but now has none which would have sent up a red flag for me.

unfortunately animals are property and adoption contracts are not legally binding, thankfully most people don't know this and the iffy buyers are hesitant to sign such documents

Yes, you're all completely right, I am the reason those rabbits died, because I did not bother to research her, despite the fact that she was introduced to me by a friend and I took that friend's word on the woman being trustworthy.

Bad Habit":xxcatmsm said:

Yes, you're all completely right, I am the reason those rabbits died, because I did not bother to research her, despite the fact that she was introduced to me by a friend and I took that friend's word on the woman being trustworthy.

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Bad Habit, please don't do this to yourself.

No one here is blaming you for what happened -- how could they? Many people have said outright that it was not your fault.

Some people have offered suggestions about measures that can be taken to help prevent this kind of thing, but it would be a mistake to think that means they feel you were at fault.

Both your friend and you were taken in by a plausible but very disturbed woman. She is the only one who is responsible for those rabbits dying.

Bad Habit":1dm6ihg5 said:

Yes, you're all completely right, I am the reason those rabbits died, because I did not bother to research her, despite the fact that she was introduced to me by a friend and I took that friend's word on the woman being trustworthy.

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I agree with Maggie, I didn't see that in any of the posts, BH... I know this is a raw subject for you, because of what this woman did to your rabbits, but no one was blaming you at all. It had never occurred to me to to internet searches on potential buyers.

I don't see how anyone could ever blame you for having this happen to you BH. I'm sorry if you took it that way. How could you be expected to prevent something that was beyond what sane people would ever even imagine???

The only thing the rest of us can do is try to learn whatever we can from what you have shared about the experience.
And, I'm very thankful that you have been so open considering how awful this was for you.
Advice you gave me, combined with searching classifieds has already helped me avoid one local person who ALWAYS messages me about any purebred rabbit I post for sale, no matter what breed.

They had adds up all over, looking for all sorts of different things, and "will take any and all unwanted bunnies" adds.

Claiming to be breeding 6 or 7 different pet breeds and happy to take in an unlimited number of sick or aggressive extras was a huge red flag that I might not have noticed if you hadn't informed me about some things watch out for.

So, thanks for doing all this for our animals, Bad Habit, even though it's been really tough for you.

I have held off on posting on this thread..All I can say is THANK-YOU B.H.Thank you for sharing your experience with us,and allowing us to not only learn from it but also allowing us, your cyber family, to reach out and try to comfort you...By sharing this you have given all of us a chance to grieve with you. You also have given us all a chance to share what we can to help you and all of us to be better stewards of the animals in our care..
No one here will ever blame YOU for what SOMEONE ELSE did..They broke your heart and that hurts us as well..because we care for you...
You were lied to and abused this "person" (and I use the term loosely)deserves to have the same treatment that she forced on those poor trusting animals...but that will never happen.
And we must share any information we have to help this kind of thing to never happen to any of us again....
I am sure that this lesson will be of great value to all of us.
Again Thank-You for sharing your experience we know how hard it must have been to put it in writing and make it all real and raw all over again.
You are very brave and I for one, and I know I am not alone,respect you very much!

Bad Habit":1jmrty7i said:

Yes, you're all completely right, I am the reason those rabbits died, because I did not bother to research her, despite the fact that she was introduced to me by a friend and I took that friend's word on the woman being trustworthy.

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How did you do anything wrong in this? It should be perfectly reasonable to trust a friend's word and not have to go beyond that. It's an unfortunate lesson to see that even with a friend knowing this person, she turned out to be a train wreck. I know there's a sense of responsibility I have had for any animal I've ever owned, let alone what you must feel for something you bred... and of course the self blame is understandable, but unless you knew exactly what she was doing and handed those rabbits over... this is on her. The only thing you can be blamed for is raising everyone's awareness here.

Bad Habit":8an6emr6 said:

Yes, you're all completely right, I am the reason those rabbits died, because I did not bother to research her, despite the fact that she was introduced to me by a friend and I took that friend's word on the woman being trustworthy.

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It is not your fault, Bad Habit. It is solely the fault of the woman who was SUPPOSED to be caring for them. You have no control over what happens when an animal leaves your care, and there is not a single one of us that would feel it was your fault. You trusted her and she let you down, she let the animals down and she let animal ownders/breeders everywhere down. None of this was your fault. :grouphug: