Clinton News Record, 2014-09-24, Page 1414 News Record • Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Animal abandonment
an increasing issue in
rural Ontario
Local woman
disgusted at
people's
apathy towards
animal welfare
after rescuing
several rabbits
from a Huron
County side road
Steph Smith
Goderich Signal Star
Getting the word out is at
the top of Amanda Budny's
long list of priorities.
The Benmiller area resi-
dent and owner of angora
rabbits received a phone call
this past summer from her
friend concerning several
bunnies she found
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abandoned on the side of a
gravel road outside of
Carlow.
"When I got the call, I
knew there were more than a
few rabbits, but I didn't
expect there to be 14," Budny
said. "Unfortunately, two
had been hit on the road. We
rescued eight that night, only
to get a call from my friend
later that she spotted six
more while out walking her
dog."
Animal abandonment is
an increasingly prevalent
issue that occurs in almost
all areas of the province,
especially in rural areas
because of the sheer amount
of space that places like
Huron County have.
According to Jennifer
Bluhm, the senior inspector
for the west region of the
OSPCA, animal abandon-
ment has become the norm.
"It's far too common that
animals are abandoned on
the side of the road," Bluhm
said. "Abandonment usually
comes as the result of irre-
sponsible pet ownership in
the way of not getting their
animals spayed or
neutered."
Bluhm said some owners
also feel they have no choice
but to abandon their ani-
mals when they can no
longer take care of them.
"The reality with aban-
donment is that
these pets can be
hit by a car,
attacked by other
animals and
become prone to
disease," Bluhm
said. "Abandon-
ment is not a
responsible
solution."
Bluhm said
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Amanda Budny holds Toby (left) and "Mr. Fuzz," two of the rescued
bunnies now taking up residence on her farm outside of Benmiller
on Aug. 6. Fortunately, these two will have homes once they get
well again.
finding abandoned rabbits is
a very odd situation, espe-
cially 14 domestic rabbits.
She said she commends
Budny for taking on the
responsibility of caring for all
of the bunnies.
I've been with the OSPCA
since 2002 and in all that
time, I've never received a
call about rabbits," Bluhm
said. "It's an very unusual
situation."
Bluhm said when cats or
dogs wander onto a person's
property, they're classified
as strays and are covered by
a municipal bylaw. Rabbits,
however, are not covered
under any municipal bylaws.
Budny said she herself has
mostly encountered cats that
have been abandoned. She
said she currently has a
female cat that came onto
her property as a stray.
"She came out of the corn
one day," Budny said. "She
had a collar mark in her fur,
so we knew she had been
CONTINUED > PAGE 15
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