From day 1, I have always believed in the power of knowledge and sharing them. I remembered very clearly when I started off raising Holland Lops in Sept 2006. It was rough. We did not have anything close to what we have today. During my 2 years of research on breeding show quality rabbits, I always come across sentences like "start off with the best you can afford" and "get a good herd buck". What I can say today is that, these sentences are not enough to help a new breeder start off with their hobby. Here I would like to be more specific and I hope those reading are made aware of things to look out for in their quest for perfection.
Many of us are so attracted to the animals we see and we are always caught off guard when we deal with their difficult owners/breeders. The fact is, in order to get the pets we want, we first need to get their owners/breeders to agree. I am very grateful for my past experiences because I get to learn from them all the time be it good or bad experiences. The bad experiences are even better because they leave very deep imprints on my mind. I am a person that forgives easily but I do not necessarily forgets all that easily. I remember every scar that my rabbits give me but not with vengeance of course. And so, I have decided to write this post to save aspiring breeders/importers from having the need to journey through the less desirable road which is treacherous and do not benefit the community at large.
I wrote about the different categories of breeders yesterday and today I would like to zoom in more on the micro level. I want to write about my opinion how to identify an unethical breeder it comes to selling their rabbits. I am not going to touch on ethical breeding as I have done that many times.
First on the list, I would like to urge anyone who is doing research on getting rabbits to avoid breeders that are EAGER FOR MONEY. Money is the root of all evils they say and this is very true. In fact many other undesirable traits of breeders sprout from this one trait. I know very well how you cannot profit from selling pet rabbits let alone be a millionaire trading them. This is in my opinion only applicable to show rabbits. Meat rabbits can earn you millions so you might want to consider that if that is your intention. You can almost identify these sort of breeder by how advance their approaches are in getting the rabbits sold. They talk about MONEY all the time.
Secondly, take time to talk to the breeders that you know and from there, you can judge if they are sincere and willing to give good advice even though you have no intention of buying from them. Avoid those "YOU DON'T ASK, I WON'T TELL" breeders at all cost. These breeders only tell you what you are interested in and do not care to elaborate further. The reason may be they have something to hide and do not feel comfortable sharing certain things like the faults in their rabbits fearing you won't buy. Some may not know as much as they think they know and that in itself is a good indication for you. Some of these "YOU DON'T ASK, I WON'T TELL" breeders go to the extend of having you book their rabbits and adding on charges like daily feed charges and etc. But they do not disclose this up-front. It is when you have made room for the rabbits in your heart that they start to nip at you one piece at a time. Yes, there are such breeders alive in this face of the earth. Total SCUMS!
There are breeders that are known to swap rabbits last minute and get them sent to you. They are breeders that send you photos of a well posed rabbit (photos of rabbits are known to lie-LOL) or photos with less than perfect poses with loads of crappy excuses to go along such as "she was was grumpy probably because I took her litter away!". While it is valid to take litters away but it is sure not a good reason why the rabbit is not posing.
There are breeders that do not bother about their rabbits the moment they are sent off. The only time they get in touch is to get you to help them do something benefiting to only them. I really hate these and I normally try to keep in touch with people for updates as regular possible. Likewise, if you have acquire rabbits from someone, take the effort to update the breeders/owners. They really appreciate it. Personally for me, nothing is more satisfied than to have buyers emailing me letting me know how their pets are doing.
There are breeders that gives you inaccurate pedigrees or should I say culls to go along with pedigrees.
Speaking of culls, I just remembered words that I wanted to use for this post. Culls or inferior quality rabbits can work wonders for (again!) breeders that could only see $$$ in their minds. Some breeders are known to send their CULLS to other countries.
YES! This is the gist of my post today. Watch out for these breeders. They are full of DRAMA. They could sell how good their rabbits are in a trance like manner and it is very easy to fall for the bait. These are the breeders that I have learned to hate.
These are the type that thinks other countries or people deserve less than what they have. They think they have the full rights to contaminate other countries with inferior stocks! They failed to realize that what goes around comes around and bad things sure back fire big time. This is the type that I intended to write about. If you ever decide to be a breeder NEVER PASS ON SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL NOT WANT TO KEEP YOURSELF! This is the reason why I support the idea of culling. So that people will not get less than desirable pets. And this is exactly how some irresponsible breeder can make big bucks from selling rabbits. They send you rabbits with hidden hereditary/genetic problems.
They not only sell you junks but they sell you junks at Top prices. YES! There are these idiotic fools and devils in certain breeders.
They not only hurt the ones they ripped off but if we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, they are hurting communities at large. For instance, if a breeder is given inferior stocks, they go on breeding and passing on. It will soon develop into a network of inferior quality rabbits. And the country at large will never have good stuff to be enjoyed. These scums should be banished from the face of the earth forever. But then again, some may already have a network of fans that supports their wickedness. What I can attest to that is birds of the same feather flock together!
With that said, we must be responsible for ourselves in this world filled with crooks. Some may not be intentional but have fell victim to such scams. I am writing this for the good of all. I want breeders everywhere to know that people have awoken from their slumber and they are aware that they are such shady breeders lurking at every corner. I want potential bait takers to be aware so that the bait will turn into gold when the make good decisions instead. I truly sympathizes with those who have also been victimized. I have been victimized and I do not wish the same for you, my friends.
The irony of it all is that there is nothing anyone could do about it once you are victimized except to feel sorry and frustrated about how careless you were. And that is exactly how the good for nothing breeder has taken advantage of you because unconsciously the power has been transferred over to him/her in the midst of your unawareness. Therefore, KNOWLEDGE is really POWER here.
Lastly, the above is the reason why I am forever grateful and I thank God every single day for sending me angels in Scott Rodriguez, Kay Miller, Stephen & Teri Reymann and many more (I just can't fit them all here) abroad and local whom are so very generous, honest and trustworthy in their opinions and actions. The world needs more people like them to start functioning well again. I am known as a person who truly appreciates good deeds and I ensure people are given due credit for their efforts. I will cherish all the nice people that I have known in this hobby for the rest of my life. I really appreciate how much they respected me as a fellow individual and their actions truly reflect how a country practices equal rights in the sense that no other human being is above another.
I hope your angels find you too!
No comments:
Post a Comment