20 Facts About Rabbits

20 facts you need to know about rabbits if you were planning on getting one or just curious about them:

- A male rabbit is a buck.
- A female rabbit is a doe.
- A baby rabbit is a kit.
- They aren't rodents by any means! The are Lagomorphs.
- The gestation period is 30 days, gave or take a day.
- Their teeth never stop growing.
- They can be litter trained.
- Pet rabbits can live as long as 10 years.
- They purr much like a cat does.
- Domesticated rabbits can't breed with wild rabbits.
- Domesticated rabbits are born without fur.
- They require hay to assist the digestive system.
- They eat their own night droppings. (yuk!)
- The droppings make for a great garden fertilizer.
- They have 28 teeth.
- They love to chew.
- They groom themselves.
- They start breeding as early as 3 months of age.
- They sweat only through the pads on their feet.
- Never leave a rabbit in full sun as they can have a heat stroke.

Happy Trails!

Back From The Wild

I can't believe it's been over a year since I was last on my own blog. That's embarrassing! I have been very busy though and not one minute of that time away from here was wasted. Time to turn over a new leaf on here and get back to what I used to love to do, that being this blog. :)

Since my last post, I have traveled to China again for 4 days, been back to Ireland for 10 days, spent 6 months in South Africa, and about to start another round of classes in college at the end of this month. Oh joy......

My time in South Africa was spent at a wildlife refuge and I plan on returning there one day as I learned a great deal about what my future is going to be. I've always wanted to be a veterinarian and that dream is almost complete. I'm working part time as a veterinarian assistant and along with my classes and my time at the wildlife refuge, which I got credit for, by this time next year, I will be free of the learning phase and venturing out on my own. I look forward to that very much.

My freedom will only last so long, as my ultimate goal is to be a wildlife surgeon. I want to be able to travel the globe and help wildlife animals that are in need of help, no matter what it is. Far fetched? Maybe, but I was always told to follow my dreams and that is what I'm doing. The animals need me and I need them. :)

More soon......Happy trails everyone! :)

Chinese rabbit-crushing

I was appalled when I first heard of this so called "rabbit crushing" for fun. I was even mad. No, I was furious would be more like it and I hardly ever get mad about anything. I first read about this act that some of the people in China were doing to my beloved rabbits and I knew I had to stick my nose into it in whatever way I could.

I began researching this vile act and would you believe I found videos of people crushing rabbits by placing a glass plate on them and then they sat on them until the rabbit died. I was horrified to see that! To make it worse, YouTube allowed this vile act to be posted on there website for all to see too, which has since been removed and banned by the way. I have a disgusted taste for YouTube right now, as them allowing it to be published in the first place had me wondering what kind of people were running that place. Turns out Google, which runs Blogger too, runs it. I think I burst a blood vessel knowing my host was allowed this to happen. What could I do about it? Hmmm......

It got me thinking alright and I wasted no time in contacting a few higher ups I know within the animal kingdoms chain of command. They banded together to get the videos taken down and eventually banned from YouTube, but it wasn't an easy matter to make it happen. I contacted my local chapter of the SPCA, then the House Rabbit Society, and so on and so on, and then they took it to the next level, and so on and so on it went up the ladder.

You have to understand my views on this. I love rabbits! I love them more than you know about and to witness the one video I saw, it made my heart hurt for weeks knowing they were dying for no reason at all. They were not wild rabbits, they were domesticated ones, pets! Killing innocent and helpless pets just so they could get a laugh out of it. That is plainly sick! I felt more had to be done. It had to be done to make the rabbits safer. Through the many wildlife agencies around the world, word got out fast about this cruel act, country by country lining up to get the videos and pictures taken down across Europe, up through Russia, and down to Australia.

I was invited to go to China this past spring, along with other animals lovers who needed to get the word out through that country and other hidden countries that seem to think animals are playthings for them to hurt for no reason at all. We got a three day Visa to visit China and even got the chance to voice our opinions about this rabbit crushing event that was sweeping through there country. They did know about it, the Chinese government that is, and they seemed to take a lot more interest in it as 15 countries were pressing them to do something more about it. Did the visit help any? I think it did, as there own news agency, which is governed by there own government, acknowledged there was a problem and that they were going to do what they could to make a difference.

Since that visit, a few rings have been broken up and arrested for cruelty to animals. I don't know what they do to people in China for abusing and killing animals at random, but I know it's more severe that what more free countries do. I'm hoping this gets stopped worldwide before it's gets to out of hand. If a communist country can stop, listen to what concerned people have to say and do something about it, then it shouldn't be a problem to handle anywhere else in the world either.

If you ever see or hear about an animal being abused, let someone know. Call the police if you have to. Thanks.

Happy Trails!