RosL wrote:
Before you edited one of your posts, it said
The '23' people you refer to as witnesses are just the same five people (max) with aliases, boyfriends and cousins parroting their information.
Sorry, that is wrong. Maybe that's why you edited it out?
They don't go around making the hate mails, though the crazies do try to drag them in, do make up quotes from them.
Yes, I edited out because I thought it would be misconstrued without explanation. I'm was referring to the 'Bunny Justice' group and their multiple websites that Christine frequents and regurgitates.
Nobody has said that LMRR is great at basic rabbit care. The question is 1) is it bad enough to shut down the whole rescue 2) can it be fixed. I have strongly concluded 1) No and 2) Yes.
What I am saying is that contrary to the tone of these attacks, they have not killed or abused rabbits.
And Kristie Corson does NOT fit the model of a hoarder. Why? For one reason, she wants VOLUNTEERS to help. This is not a woman who sits in her house and doesn't answer her doors because she's afraid they'll take her rabbits away. She has a building, she asks for help and she applies her OWN SET OF SKILLS TO THE RESCUE. AND SHE GET THEM ADOPTED OUT.
Her skills do not include diligent cage cleaning and rabbit care (although the latter is often subjective). This isn't hard to shore up. It's WAY harder finding rescuers who are as organized as her, as good at fundraising and adoptions and has the energy and desire to do this.
And what I've concluded even more so lately is she really has what it takes -- thick skin. Putting up with all the utter crap is what makes pet rescue one of the most difficult things I've ever done.
I'm may not make any friends in rescue saying this, but by far the hardest part for me has been dealing with my fellow rescuers. In the short year I've been doing this, working along side three separate largely unrelated groups, every aspect has had to deal with people who 'disapproved' of the way our groups were doing things and many who tried to ferret out nasty information to use against us. The three groups persevered and 902 rabbits were safely and happily rehomed instead of euthanized.
Thank God we had the support of the unsuspecting public.
This was in ALL areas. I'd say half the volunteers had their own ideas of proper housing, diet and care and were intolerant of different opinions and methods. Some were emotional nutbars (tons of those in rescue, bless 'em), and others were people who truly believed they knew best and/or expected or asked for a level of perfection impossible to achieve when dealing with the number of rabbits and resources at hand.
Because the rescue heads are ultimately responsible for everything, we're always to blame when people's standards aren't met and ultimately we will be trash-talked every time we disappoint a volunteer.
Even worse, though, are the 'fellow' rescues. I don't want to say they're bad people, they truly do have the animal's best interests at heart, but so many are ridiculously judgmental, intolerant, competitive or bitter.
A huge number of rescues boycott this board because I promote 'rabbitats', an outdoor form of housing, and/or we tolerate breeders here. Not only do they not advertise their rabbits which will at least find homes for one or two, thus saving the same number from euthanization, they missed out on the shared experiences of rabbit health and behavior that will benefit the rabbits.
This may be a 'principles vs. rabbits' thing and the importance between the two a matter of opinion and great debate, but in MY opinion, this kind of intolerance serves to do nothing more than close an avenue of rescue, and I can not take complaints from these organizations seriously.
Specifically, I cannot take Stephannie seriously either because she has been conducting an 11-year-vendetta that keeps drudging up the past, and doesn't appear to be addressing current conditions. I also never see solutions other than the 10-year call to shut Kristie Corson down. She's also participated in the personal attacks.
I can't take Christine seriously because she's broadcasting that somebody is killing rabbits because they're using kitten replacement milk instead of goat's milk, which has no basis in science, only personal opinion.
I did take Iresqbunnies seriously at first until I realized she was one of the rescues involved with taking rabbits out of LMRR 10 years ago, her website (the Rainbow Bridge page is linked by Christine) lists LMRR rabbits that died years after with commentary and catch phrases that boil down to veiled accusations that even two years later LMRR is somehow responsible for their deaths.
I do take Bunniez seriously because I haven't found any grounds to dismiss her claims, she's not launching personal attacks, she doesn't appear to be prone to hysteria and her claims don't date back 10 years. I do take issue with the irrelevant 'dead rabbits in the freezer' phrase and other emotional hot buttons, but I will otherwise take her at her word.
There are also other volunteers who I believe when they talk about conditions at the rescue.
HOWEVER, this takes us back to the discussion of degrees -- are these rabbits truly being abused? No. Are better off dead? Of course not. Can conditions be better? Yes. Are there enough other rescues to take up the slack so more rabbits don't die without her than with her? No. Is it worth throwing away the strong points over over the bad points? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The 'bad' photos just aren't that bad, I've shown them to Vets and SPCA-type people for opinions, and they do not see abuse or long-term neglect. I trust Tamsin's assessment far more than anybody else's on this thread for being able to see through the captions and the catch-phrases.
There is no evidence of long-term or serious abuse, and what constitutes abuse and long term neglect is very hard to hide. That is why nobody has taken action in 10 years. Throwing out excuses like she has law enforcement friends protecting her is lame and not even possible.
The good photos are awesome and that level is attainable with volunteer help she welcomes to the facility. Maybe Kristie will never keep the cages clean, she'll never be well-liked, her rescue will never be above reproach, but she has proven VERY efficient in very important areas.
Fix what's broken. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Monitor the situation, approach care decisions with tolerance and respect for somebody else's opinion, and be prepared to suck it up and HELP when needed!
Withholding help and asking others to withhold help more abusive to the rabbits than anything Kristie will do to them.
sas
((...)-
