A group of 21 rabbits sold to a brutal meat farm as "imperfect snake food" on Craigslist were saved with the help of several rabbit rescue groups and are starting to find forever homes.
Second Chance Bunnies, a non-profit organization in California, originally found the rabbits and took in the most injured ones, reported The Dodo. House Rabbit Society later joined them and helped the injured rabbits with a emergency grant to pay for their medical costs. Save A Bunny took in some of the injured rabbits as well.
"The rabbits were packed in the typical kind of rabbit meat cages where there's wire flooring [which is dangerous to rabbits] and no rest area," Marcy Schaaf, founder of Save A Bunny, told The Dodo. "They're exposed to all the elements. There's no hiding."
The rabbits were being sold on Craigslist at a discount because they were injured, but the seller was still looking to profit off of the sale, The Dodo reported.
The rescues paid the meat farm to get the rabbits back because, according to Schaaf, many breeders are "violently anti-rescue."
"If they know you're from a rescue, they don't hesitate to say, 'Well, we're going to kill them right in front of you,'" Schaaf told The Dodo.
Despite the horror the meat farm put the rabbits through, they are recovering at the rescues and some have already been adopted.
One rabbit, who was so injured that Save A Bunny didn't immediately think he would survive, is on his way to be completely recovered. Based on his personality you wouldn't even know he was ever treated so cruelly.
"He's an unbelievably sweet and patient rabbit. He's very, very special," Schaaf told The Dodo.
