Milk to rabbits....../meat

[pinkfox]

i do agree wifezilla but i also agree with tortoise, especially since i found te usda by simply typing "Laws and Rabbits" in the google search engine, that was the first link to pop up.

i was a small buisness owner, and we didnt make it not because we failed to sign the right papers but simply because were in a bad market and in this area cant compete with walmart when they brought in new lines (they wernt carrying alot of the products we were untill after we opend)

but i spent 3 years dong my homework before i put in the investment to get started...at least i know it failed because of outside aspects and not because i didnt do my homework....

this should go for any buisness...
again petland KNOWS the rules and noone said anythign to these folks...
but the fact they called usda about meat rabbits but didnt think to call them to find out the rules about selling in the pet industry...sounds like a boo-boo on thier half...
as stated in the other thread, i dont feel that the fines that have been places are anywhere neer fair or realistic...

but they are at fault for not doing their homework...

and i also agree with tortoise that most of the fines are probbaly based on the age sold...
i havent been able to find a mo law about age to sell rabbits but i know in the tri-state animals cannot be sold to (private or to a retailer) untill 8 weeks old...so that could also be another aspect...

also on the cage matter...
http://www.animallaw.info/administrative/adusawaregc.htm#s53
lists minimum square footage for rabbits...as you can see its based on weight and its not alot of space, the minimum square footage for a 4lb and under rabbit is 1.5sqft...thats not alot of floor space, so while the article states "everyoen says our cages were ginormous" in order to be cited for cages being too small for the rabbits contained under AWA (usda) says ALOT because they dont have to have much room to begin with...

 

[Neko-chan]

Hm...I dunno what to think about this. I'm with tortoise in that yeah, if the rule was there, they should have known about it, because in this world nowadays, you really should know what hoops you have to jump through.

I also agree with Wifey, because 4 million dollars is ****ing ridiculous, and a 500 dollar limit to sales is a stupid bloody rule. Who can make a profit off that?

However, I think that family was very foolish in allowing the inspector onto their property in the first place. They should have told them (nicely), that if they wanted to do an inspection, they could go through official channels, instead of coming on the grounds of nosing around in other businesses receipt piles. I do not agree with "spot inspections" anyway. I mean, what would the inspector have done if they hadn't been home? Trespass on private property and nose around yet again? She's so good at determining a 1/4 inch difference in a very large cage already? No, that woman (and why does it make a difference if the inspector was female or not?) shouldn't have been allowed to set foot on the property in the first place.

The lawyer must not have been that good if he couldn't find that rule either, but I'd also sue the inspector for dropping his "I've never lost a case" threat either. Complaints and/or sue-age should be aimed at the unhelpful woman on the phone after they took 8 weeks to process the information and didn't make a peep as well. The "We're so gonna bust you" attitude is not right.

I have a hard time seeing a happy ending for this debacle though.

Makes me quite glad not to be in the US anymore (and if anyone takes exception to my opinion about the US, they can stick it.) At this rate, the US is becoming not very safe and healthy for anything.