Posted on 04/04/2006 9:19:47 AM PDT by aculeus
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has criticised a stunt in which two giant rabbits were married in a mock wedding ceremony.
The Continental giant rabbits were dressed up in wedding costumes for the event at Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells in Somerset.
The rabbits - Roberto and Amy - are both more than 3ft long and each weighs just under three stone, and were wed in the Britain's first ever rabbit nuptials.
Roberto, aged three, is 3ft 6in long and is believed to be the biggest rabbit in the world. Organisers dressed Amy in a mini veil and a wedding band was placed around her paw.
But the RSPCA branded the stunt as "belittling" and criticised the organisers for sending out the wrong message about animals.
"We would be opposed to anything that would cause distress or suffering to animals and we are opposed to the dressing up of animals as it belittles them," Joanna Barr, RSPCA spokesperson, said.
"This puts the wrong message across. Animals are not toys to be dressed up."
Jerry Cottle Junior, spokesman for Wookey Hole Caves, insisted that the stunt was in no way cruel.
"The ceremony went very well indeed. Amy was a bit nervous at first but the couple are now tucking into some carrot cake," he said.
Exactly. At most, the bunny might be annoyed with an uncomfortable thing stuck on it's body, but with no real understanding of the thing...
On that level, it's not that much different than a young horse being broken to bit and bridle (I'm not a horsey person, sorry if I said that wrong) or a dog having a collar put on it, and being trained to a leash.
Not demeaning at all, kinda cute IMO, but utterly pointless. Bet they liked the carrot cake tho :-)
And you saw the size of those things. If they felt "belittled" they could sure register an effective protest.
yes, but they wouldn't let jimmah and his wabbits into the
St.Paul City Hall for fear of offending someone.
"Wookey Hole Caves"? Not something I'd care to see, I imagine.
you are right, rabbits are lagomorphs and not rodents.
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