fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

“Please return my rabbits”

by HV1 Staff
April 13, 2016
in Community, Letters, Voices
0
A photo of the bunnies in question, provided by the author.

Last week Morningstar Raindance of Saugerties wrote a letter protesting her arrest for animal cruelty and the seizure of 10 rabbits by the SPCA. Click here to read the article about her arrest.

Morningstar Raindance is being charged with animal cruelty by the SPCA. “What is wrong with this picture?” I think to myself as I am carrying a bale of hay for my animals up a steep hill in the last snowstorm.

I am an animal lover and animal activist. I started Peace on Earth Farm, where I have rescued 18 chickens, two sheep, one dog, one cat, and two rabbits. I love rabbits because they are so cute and cuddly, so I adopted a few more. I thought that because they were small, they were too young to get pregnant. Then there were 21 bunnies and two were adopted by friends. I tried everything to find homes for the rest of them but it is not Easter time. I was totally overwhelmed so I called the SPCA to surrender most of the bunnies. I called them.

There was no reason to suspect that the bunnies were anything but healthy. They hadvery thick and beautiful fur since they lived outdoors in the rabbit barn. They had bright eyes. They were eating, hopping around. Rabbit pellets were normal. Then under a bright light, when they were examined, injuries were discovered.

This was a medical problem that I was unaware of and not a situation of animal cruelty. There is a big difference between these. I thought and believed that the bunnies were healthy.

Although farm animals sometimes have coccidiosis, they have diarrhea as a symptom. The remedy is commonly sold at feed stores and I have it right here in the barn. However, rabbits show no symptom of coccidiosis and their rabbit pellets looked normal so I did not know they had it. If the SPCA had determined that coccidiosis was going around in the rabbit barn, all they had to do was to tell me and I would have treated them for it. Instead, they took all my rabbits. I would like my 10 rabbits returned to me ASAP.

Since they already have a good home where they are loved and well cared for why is the SPCA’s money being wasted taking care of ten rabbits that already have a happy home? I have six empty rabbit cages and 75 pounds of rabbit food in my kitchen. I loved my rabbits and at least one of them, Hip Hop, is unadoptable because he bites.

I live in nature and my rabbit cages were not dirty as the SPCA is accusing me of. It is a different style of cage — homemade and wooden, not metal. I have hay and litter boxes in each cage as well as fresh water and food everyday including snacks, lettuce, carrots and oats, The litter boxes were changed every day and the whole cage cleaned totally once per week. I usually let the rabbits out to hop around while I cleaned the cages. The SPCA happened to show up in the morning before the cages were cleaned and they used this as a reason to justify their actions.

I am 60 years old and brain damaged. My two strong sons have moved out so I am taking care of the farm by myself, and the quantity of rabbits became overwhelming especially when my car died in the middle of the winter.
For the spring when the ground is no longer frozen I want to construct tunnels for the rabbits in the rabbit yard modeled after what was created by Donna Stack so that the rabbits can actually enjoy the underground.
I think my precious, beautiful rabbits had a very happy life here on Peace on Earth Farm until the SPCA took them and have them now in their metal cages indoors and away from Nature and home.

My 10 rabbits are being held as hostages of the SPCA unless I pay the ransom fee of $800 dollars. A lot of this was money spent unnecessarily but I would have paid the medical expenses of the bunnies that I was surrendering if Brian Shapiro had asked me. He did not have to kidnap my 10 rabbits and charge me with animal cruelty, since I was very upset that the bunnies had illnesses that I was unaware of.

Recently, Adell Seligman, a well known lawyer and friend of the SPCA, made Peace on Earth Farm into a Not-For-Profit corporation. Since I am a fellow animal activist, I suggest that the SPCA drop the animal cruelty charges and return my rabbits.

If anyone would like to help my rabbits come home, please call 247-0321.

Morningstar Raindance

West Saugerties

Tags: spca
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Seeing double through the eyes of Jeffrey Kraus

Next Post

Saugerties teachers hone their skills with professional study groups

HV1 Staff

Related Posts

A change in fortune
Columns

A stacked deck: Youthful offenders and recidivism

June 9, 2023
A dry June: How concerned should we be?
Columns

A dry June: How concerned should we be?

June 9, 2023
Congressman Pat Ryan calls for Central Hudson president to resign
Op-ed

Point of view: Local congressmember goes bipartisan 

June 7, 2023
Local elections, Springtown Road, water rates and more letters from our readers
Letters

Local elections, Springtown Road, water rates and more letters from our readers

June 7, 2023
Locals’ and tourists’ guide to community events in Ulster County this week
Community

Locals’ and tourists’ guide to community events in Ulster County this week

June 7, 2023
Library book sale headlines a big Saturday in Saugerties (photos)
Community

Library book sale headlines a big Saturday in Saugerties (photos)

June 9, 2023
Next Post

Saugerties teachers hone their skills with professional study groups

Trending News

  • Hostile work environment? Feds are asked to investigate the Woodstock Police 1.5k views
  • Thousands take to streets in New Paltz for LGBTQ+ Pride 0.9k views
  • Smoke from Nova Scotia: Aerial fire and brimstone cast a plague on Ulster County 765 views
  • Brookside Road overpass bridge in New Paltz is closed indefinitely due to multiple collisions 674 views
  • Unannounced repaving project has Springtown neighbors in uproar 453 views
  • New Paltz team uses ketamine to treat depression 429 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
63°
Partly Cloudy
5:20 am8:30 pm EDT
Feels like: 63°F
Wind: 5mph N
Humidity: 68%
Pressure: 29.78"Hg
UV index: 5
SunMonTue
84/61°F
75/59°F
79/54°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing