A rabbit farmer in Springmount, Ontario, by they name of Larry Byers is going out of business. He was robbed 3 times in past month. And just this weekend a total of 77 rabbits, four bags of feed and nine transport cages were taken. In January, thirteen Californian rabbits stolen from him. Was it thieves out to sell the rabbits as meat and earn a few bucks? Or perhaps just animal activists trying to “rescue” the buns and make a point? Perhaps we’ll never know.

In the last 5 months, the family has lost about $1500 worth of rabbits. This last heist took the rabbits that the family was planning to sell in just 10 days. Those profits would have allowed the family to break even for the year. But now they’re just shutting their doors, disheartened about everything that has happened and wondering why. Read the full article here

What can we learn from all this?

Unless you’re selling show rabbits or expecting to sell to the public, don’t let your rabbitry become too publicly known.

The Byers had this rabbitry in operation since 1987 with no troubles at all. Why they were hit so many times in the past 5 months is anyone’s guess. And because rabbits are generally very quiet animals, you can even raise them in the middle of the city without being noticed. It sure seems that someone was keeping a close watch on what was going on in this particular rabbitry and they even have had experience raising rabbits themselves.

The Byers had this rabbitry in operation since 1987 with no troubles at all. Why they were hit so many times in the past 5 months is anyone’s guess. And because rabbits are generally very quiet animals, you can even raise them in the middle of the city without being noticed. It sure seems that someone was keeping a close watch on what was going on in this particular rabbitry and they even have had experience raising rabbits themselves. Keep your rabbits in a secure area that not only deters predators but also thieves.

The family mentioned that they didn’t even have a lock on the barn door where the rabbits were housed. Perhaps they felt it just wasn’t necessary since they’d never had problems before, but unfortunately people are just not as trustworthy as they used to be.

According to reports on the Internet and other news sources, it is becoming more prevelant for animal rights activists to target breeders of all kinds. They may vandalize, terrorize and otherwise threaten your operation with hopes of driving you out of business. Plus you never know who might decide they are more worthy of your rabbits and their income - or who are just desperate to put food on the table.