I thought y'all might want to see the update from Kate...
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All,
This is the first day tha ti've fumbled through all the various responses and emails and read everyone of them.
Thank you so much for all the wonderful, sweet offers.... and the super kind words about our loss.
Unfortunately, we los tour Ivory, who was our NALRC auction donation, we are saddened by the loss of this young, promising rabbit.
I am not mad at the dogs, as they were only being dogs, and bless my dogs for defending their space, even to get hurt....
I am thanksful that our neighbors busted their tails however to get the fence up completely by Friday. My family and I put up a 6 foot wire fence 4 feet inside the existing fences all the way around, so in case something like this ever happens again, we have a second line of defense against outside animals and people.
To explain our barns a bit better. We live 20 miles away from where our horse barns are, as there isn't much land for farms in our neck of the woods, so the county set aside land for approxiamtely 200 horse enthusiasts in our county. it is a localized area, taking up approximately 60 acres on top of a mesa (small flat topped mountain). Each family is allowed ot have up to 2 lots, each approximately 200'l x 60'w....we are lucky to have 2, so our horses have space and we have space to have the rabbits, goats, whatever we prefer.....up to 6 large animals per lot....We built a bunny barn last summer and due to someone stealing some babies and wanting to make upgrades with heaters/ac or fans, we had brought all the rabbits but a very few already nursing mommas down to our house to our backyard. We live in a normal subdivision, with approximately a 50' x 50' back yard that is fenced in 6 foot 35 year old cedar slats.......our neighbors had graciously introduced themsleves after we moved in about the beginning of February, and we had talked about getting together to replace the fence.
What they did, they thought it would be nice of them to replace the fence...but they didn't count on their son (who is a college kid) to come home and let out their dogs, and the poor guys working on the fence were helpless, as they were unsure of being able to handle the dogs...the son apparently didn't think it was a big deal, but his mother is horrified and his father is angry....they have said they will help, but thus far, their has been no offer to help take broken cages to the dump, there was no offer of help to bury all my beloved little rabbits and they have been scarce to find...
I personally am not ready to talk to them at this point, all this is through my husband and son.......
However, we are moving on, and I am reluctantly making the effort to catalog who all is gone so that I have a list of everyone so that I can make an effort and regrouping.
I appreciate everyone's support, gifts and offers to replace the stock we have lost, this is so sweet and very generous.
Unlike those who have lost their rabbits to fire's, we are lucky enough to have some of our precious stock to continue with.(thanks Dawn, for the kick in the pants to realize that).....and I've got some beautiful young kits that were just not old enough to donate to the auction or to show this year at Nationals, but they are some of the best we have ever produced and may just be great breedeing animals if they heal from the injuries they have, which tells me we were building in the right direction....
At this point, I want to rebuild broken cages and repair those that can be fixed and try to muddle through the losses just enough to be able to evaluate what we've got already...to see what we may need down the road to fit into the puzzle.
We will not be coming to Nationals this year, both because we were haivng a hard time getting there due to vehicle troubles before this happened and now mainly because we have too many babies, adults and juniors to help recouperate from their trauma, it's not fair to ask my family to try and do this while I'd be gone....they just cannot.
On the wonderful side of life, we just had a little momma have her first litter this morning, two little black kits....both fat and doing well.....this is where I need to go from here, with those two little kits, thriving and squirming....although maybe not eating so much as they do.
Thanks again for all the support.
Best regards,
Kate
