Rabbit farm shut down by activists, now we have 12 gorgeous new residents!
One of our newly rescued rabbit residents. Photo: Tom Woolard.
Last month 202 rabbits were liberated from a meat and fur farm after relentless campaigning from grassroots activists. Surge sanctuary is now caring for 12 of those rabbits while they are rehomed to five-star families.
T&S Nurseries was a horrific franchise that confined rabbits in barren hutches then slaughtered them for meat. The campaign against them was spearheaded by Shut Down T&S Rabbits (SDTNS), who found that T&S owner Phil Kerry was also exploiting a legal loophole allowing him to sell the rabbit’s fur by claiming it was just a by-product of the meat. Fur farming has been illegal in Britain since 2000, yet Phil Kerry was selling rabbit fur products for as much as £600. This highlights the failure of UK law to prohibit the practises which it claims to be opposed to, leaving defenceless animals open exploitation by remorseless businesspeople. Luckily, these bunnies had animal rights activists fighting their corner.
Photo: Shut Down T&S Rabbits
After 17 months of tireless campaigning from SDTNS and other activist groups which involved camp out protests, leafleting, and blockades, Phil Kerry announced he would be ceasing operations and handed over all the rabbits to the activists. This is a huge success for animal liberation, and shows the power of direct and grassroots activism, evidenced in Phil’s announcement: “I made the decision to give into their demands. We couldn’t fight them anymore because they are too strong.”
On liberation day, local animal sanctuaries rallied together to provide homes for the rabbits, where they received urgent medical attention and were shown love for the first time.
We are happy to say that Surge was one of those sanctuaries, and we are over the moon to have 12 sweet new residents!
We have six boys and six girls which we have named Colin, Carl, Hector, Hugo, Rodger, Raymond (the gents), and Luna, Licorice, Sadie, Sabrina, Hazel, and Daphne (the ladies). The boys are far more confident than the girls, with Colin being the bravest so far. He loves to check out what you’re doing when the stable is being cleaned!
All the rabbits love eating the food that our volunteers forage for them - their favourite is wild dandelion.
Some of our sweet new residents munching on forage. Photo: Tom Woolard.
Seeing them coming out of their shells and loving life, it is hard to believe how soon they would have been slaughtered had they not been rescued, as unbelievably the meat industry considers them ‘senior’ at only 6-12 months.
They are also larger than usual rabbits, due to being genetically selected to produce more meat. But these gentle beings will never see the inside of a slaughterhouse. They are safe now and forever.
On arrival, some of the rabbits had terrible ear mites which were causing a lot of pain and discomfort. We quickly had them seen by the vet who prescribed ivermectin, which thankfully healed them so well and quickly! A few also have respiratory problems, and are currently on antibiotics, but all in all we think they will live out the rest of their lives as happy, healthy rabbits.
Bunny kisses. Photo: Tom Woolard.
They have been vaccinated and microchipped by the vet and will soon be neutered. Sadly, we do not have the necessary set up to keep these lovely boys and girls long term, so we will be looking for five-star homes to rehome them to. Please get in contact with us if you have experience caring for rabbits and think you could provide a forever home to two or more of our beautiful rabbit residents.
If you are not able to provide a home to any rabbits but would still like to help, please consider donating to Shut Down T&S Rabbit’s fundraiser or donating directly to Surge Sanctuary.
Any help is truly appreciated and will go directly to providing Colin, Carl, Hector, Hugo, Rodger, Raymond, Luna, Licorice, Sadie, Sabrina, Hazel and Daphne with a new lease of life, after surviving their traumatic beginnings.
Click here to read an interview with Shut Down T&S Rabbits about their campaign and be inspired!
Devon Docherty is a Surge writer and animal rights activist with a master’s degree in Human-Animal Interactions. Connect with Devon on LinkedIn.