from email: Guinea pig / rabbit breeder in Nottingham

[annb]

Contacting you in regards to this link on Facebook........it's a guinea pig breeder located in Nottingham, you may already know about it but there is very strong hate towards the guy that runs it. I've attached the write up from the FB page. The RSPCA seem to be doing nothing apart from complaining about red tape but no doubt someone will take the law in to their own hands soon......

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...0403772&ref=mf


"This is about a Guinea Pig/Rabbit Breeder in Nottingham. This man is seriously neglecting the animals. The animals are living in terrible conditions and are in very poor health. He’s using them as breeding machines just to make money. He visits the Fur and Feather auction on a regular basis selling and buying stock. Avalon Guinea Pig rescue have rescued a number of Guinea pigs from him in very poor health. I, myself visited his property very recently I bought 9 Guinea Pigs from him, most look to be pregnant, they have fungal infections, scabs to their ears and noses, very thin, sore feet, broken nails, long nails, mites/parasites, dirty and very smelly. Below is what happened to some of them.
We found 2 boys that he handed over, both look like they’d been attacked by something like a cheese grater, huge holes in their backs( open wounds) and sitting depressed and fluffed up the holes had infection oozing out of them and most of the hair had gone from their backs. They also had fungal on their faces and looked in agony! We brought them home and took them straight to a vet, they were put on meds and painkillers, they both died after around 5 weeks as the infection had gone on that long it had eaten their lungs away and gone deep inside of them.
Sweet pea had her babies ( 6 dead) Saturday morning and when we saw her she was still laying there with blood oozing on Sunday afternoon, unable to sit or stand, he said she was exhausted and would be ok the next day, so he handed her over and we said we would treat her, she had big bite wounds underneath and hair missing on her legs and belly, she cried all the way home, we called in the RSPCA at Radcliffe and all they said was they’re a rehoming centre and there was nothing they could do, we called the RSPCA over the phone and told them to meet us when we got back with her, they never turned up...it took her 4 weeks or so to stand up again.
Photographs were taken but the RSPCA have never even asked to see them. The Vets wrote a report on the boys Cosmic and Rocket for the RSPCA but it was never followed up.
Also a girl we called Moon was taken away by us with all her hair peeling off with a layer of skin under her belly, there were dead babies laying on the floor behind her. At the time of getting Sweetpea there was a bonfire in the middle of the garden with burning bodies of guinea pigs, rabbits, baby g-pigs and baby rabbits as well as chickens, the chickens that were alive were dragging the bodies out from the fire and trying to eat them.. In the rabbit shed the rabbits were in appalling conditions, mice were crawling out of the cages and rats were running about on the rafters.. There were dead baby rabbits in with their mums. The breeder said he doesn’t believe in vets as they cost a fortune so he knocks them on the head and throws them onto the bonfire. He is also killing the male rabbits as he’s not sold any since November and having them for dinner, he says it’s not worth taking them to the auction and only getting £1 for them. So he kills them, the pet shops aren’t buying from him lately neither.
On Saturday there was a body of a dead guinea pig on the bonfire waiting to be burnt, he said she died the day before and the 3 day old baby that was running around in the shed was hers. I myself went to see him, as he’s never met me before and I am totally shocked at what I saw. The whole place is sludgy, the Guinea pigs are kept on a shed floor on Straw, fed Rabbit food that was wet through, the water was in a old chicken feeder and was thick and sludgy. He had babies in the sheds breeding with one another. I saw a 4 day old baby running around on its own screaming for its mum. The Rabbits are in small disgusting old tatty hutches lying in there own faeces and all wet. Because I bought the 9 Guinea Pigs from him, he plans to visit the Fur and Feather Auction to re stock!!!! "

His address for your reference is

MR HUBBARD
The Willows
Doddington Lane,
off Main Street
Dry Doddington
Newark
NG23 5JB


Thank you

Tracie Emerson

[Bren]

Some people have contacted DEFRA about this. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, they are failing in their duty to ensure the guinea pigs and rabbits are well cared for.

The local DEFRA office is the one to contact:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth...ast%20Midlands

It needs to be explained to them that it is their duty to enforce the Act. The Act makes it clear that the rabbits and guinea pigs must be protected from pain and disease.

The Act also empowers local councils to appoint agents to investigate breaches of the Act.

Under the section on the Promotion of Welfare, the Act says:

(1) A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.

Amongst the needs that must be met are:

(e) its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
--------------

Clearly, these rabbits and guinea pigs are not having their needs met. They are suffering and the Act says they are suffering. DEFRA needs to do the job the taxpayer is paying them to do.