[Closed] Is it illegal to poison a pet rabbit ?

Of course it's not legal to kill someone's pet rabbit !

REPORT THE NEIGHBOUR TO RSPCA, they love that sort of thing, some people have such sad pathetic neighbours,like ones i used to have that put poison on the grass because i was feeding the birds, problem was it killed the grass and the birds just few away.

Wtf....
the neighbour needs to see a shrink.

Put the rabbits in the house, that'll shut him up ... maybe.

Edit: to be fair, rabbits can be noisy in a pen as I've found out BUT is it any worse than any other sounds one hears when windows and doors are open?

It's all very well being cross about it but you do have to live next door to those people. Talk to the bloke about it and find out what his problem really is.

I often get annoyed by the standard STW response of "call the police". However in this case, I think it may be well worth them having a word. That seems a slightly psychotic response to a minor annoyance.

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Winston and Roxy say "No to poisoning Rabbits!"

That person is having mental health issues I'd guess.

TBF depending on the construction of the cage I can well believe that a rabbit rattling the wire early in the morning can cause enough noise as it resonates through a wooden cage to be a nuisance. Can't you replace the wire front with wooden dowels or something ?

buy a cockerel

Kill the neighbour.
Plead insanity in court caused by the noise caused by the rabbits.
Job done

Hammer and every glass on his car will do it if you don't mind going to court? I would not fancy it though .....so ! 2 people and 2 20" SQUARE FIRE WORK PACKS (you know the multiple effect ones)any way synchronize watches and go to front and back of propety and lay the fireworks under the outside of windows light tape whilst breaking glass of main rooms(better if ground floor flats as a bedroom?)throw in flash bomb(any mail order theatre store and then retreat- now important video making sure all exits were clear and no exits blocked -He will move for sure no charges just a couple of windows and a talking to?

I reckon the [url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/contents ]Animal Welfare Act[/url] should cover it.

It covers protected animals which are commonly domesticated in the British Islands, under the control of a person on a permanent or temporary basis and it's not living in a wild state.

There is an offence of administrating a poison.....

Administration of poisons etc.

(1)A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, he—

(a)administers any poisonous or injurious drug or substance to a protected animal, knowing it to be poisonous or injurious, or

(b)causes any poisonous or injurious drug or substance to be taken by a protected animal, knowing it to be poisonous or injurious.

[i]buy a cockerel[/i]

I concur. Also if your neighbour has kids, poison them.

id be more worried about his blatant use of poison and kids animals about!!
pretty sure putting down rat poison without correct procedure will be an offence , the kicking you should give him will be so fares fare ?

My neighbour's kids make a right racket .Can I give them poisoned ice cream?

Thanks amplebrew, that's the answer I was hoping for.

It looks like

A person commits an offence if...(c)he permitted that to happen or, knowing the drug or substance to be poisonous or injurious, he failed to take such steps (whether by way of supervising the other person or otherwise) as were reasonable in all the circumstances to prevent that happening.

Fairly sure it is illegal to put poison down uncovered. RSPB will be very interested in that, take photos next time, especially if its on your property.

Also, a pet is property, killing it is criminal damage.

Time to put a nice patio or pond in..

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I just told Ruby the story, and she was so upset she hid under Tak's protectionary fluff.

Animal Welfare act - Unnecessary Suffering - though that may be after the incident.

In addition - it may fall under Criminal Damage? They are your property.

Meanwhile I'd be round there like a shot with a set of Bombers. Fraking cheek of it, trying to poison a defenceless animal!!

To ease the situation I suggest you swap the mesh for smaller mesh - Ruby [who you can't really see] above has serious teeth, and has damaged the mesh on their hutch by chewing it in the AM in enthusiasm for nuggets. I changed the mesh for 5mm square mesh from Wickes and no more chewing, so less noise.

But mainly, I'd be speaking to the Polis - see what they have to say..

The pen.

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The gap between the bungalow and the fence had already been covered over and a door put on to make a sort of shed.
I tacked the pen on to this to give them both an outdoor and indoor area.
I made it tall enough to stand up in and it ended up looking more like an aviary than a rabbit pen.

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Edit;
There are buzzards round here. That's why it's got a mesh roof.

That's a cracking pen. Better than my house. Just call the police in the morning. Be very polite and make sure they sort him for you.

There are fairly comprehensive laws about deliberately placing dangerous substances on other peoples' property.

btw, how tall are these rabbits of yours? Or do they hop really high?

Excellent pen. I can see that that's a lot of mesh - so perhaps look for the area that's being chewed and tack smaller mesh over that bit, see if that does it. Failing that I doubt they stand and chew, so perhaps only the first coupla feet need it.

Truth be told though it [i]is[/i] kinda expensive from Wickes, so maybe sort the neighbour out instead.

wordnumb - Tak could leap 1m when he was about 6 months old. I used the metal wire lid [in the background in the above pic of my buns] to make a gate allowing me to leave the door open and step over it.

Little bugger used to jump onto it, balance on the top edge like a cat and then drop down to the other side when I got up to try and retrieve him!

Send round Kehaar to peck his eyes out, and Bigwig to rip his face off!

I'd pop round and tell him you are off to the hospital as your daughter ate the poison - would you mind looking after the rabbits while we are away....

Are these your rabbits, everyone knows it's hand grenades for rabbits

Don't you live in the FoD?

Post rabbit poo through his letterbox. but lace it with un digested pellets. Let him know what kind of monstrous animals he's meddling with

CCTV and RSPCA.

What a total ***t your neighbour is!

Or, stiffen up the chicken wire somehow and tell or even better show the neighbour what you've done to try to minimise his suffering. Then ask him if poison is really the right way to go about finding the solution?

Make sure you have Mrs MTG's daughter there too.

What if a neighbours cat eats the poison?

What if a visitor to your house/garden and you are out/forget to mention/look out for anything if they have small children? (Or more likely you have to say 'sorry you can't go outside').

I'd speak to your local Police Officer asap. If anyone pushed poison into my property or threatened harm to my pet(s) I wouldn't hesitate.

I think you need to act to ward off/head off a potential breach of the peace.

On a slightly different tack, is the 'scratching' a redherring? Maybe the neighbour finds your (admittably) over-large looking pen as an eye-sore? It is abit overkill. Its none of their business but it is quite large tbh. Maybe talk to them first, see if you can scale it down in height a wee bit. Do rabbits fly/climb to freedom? 😉 This sadly could also be a sign of weakness to your neighbour but its worth a try.

If I saw that sign pen next door to me I'd 😐 everytime I looked out of the bedroom window.

What if [s]a neighbours cat[/s]your child eats the poison?

totally totally not OK, balls to RSPCA, call the police imo.

Try and resolve it with the neighbour first - ask him exactly what it is that he would like you to do about the situation. It sounds like you have already tried to accommodate his wishes, but there may be a solution that can be worked out without either poison or the police.

Can you get a neutral neighbour to give a second opinion on the noise level? It may be that it actually IS causing a disturbance. Even if it is, it's not ok to poison someone's pets, but some sort of further compromise may be needed.

When my younger siblings had rabbits and guinea pigs, they were put in a hutch in the garage at night - is that an option?

If I saw that sign pen next door to me I'd 😐 everytime I looked out of the bedroom window.

And I'd respectfully suggest you didn't look into my garden out of your bedroom window

There is a step in ground level between the gardens. Its a 2m fence our side plus a 0.5m wall his side. He keeps his caravan by his side of the fence and theres a high hedge at the front, so no one can see

HE HAS A CARAVAN?! Retribution options unlocked!

post this through his letterbox (the pic, not the rabbit. obvs)

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Put the rabbits in the house

Wrong answer. Put some rabbits in HIS house:
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If he does poison them he can be done for "Causing Unnecessary Suffering" and be fined or sent down.

Break into his caravan and shit on/in the bed/couch/shower/fridge/cooker over a few consecutive days.

Photograph, don't touch the evidence and call police and RSPCA right away.

That pen is amazing!

Try and resolve it with the neighbour first - ask him exactly what it is that he would like you to do about the situation.

Bollocks to that, anybody who tries to poison much loved pets can't be reasoned with. Even if the rabbits were having all night raves, the neighbour had other avenues to explore before getting all Glenn Close on Flopsy and Mopsy. Environmental health, keeping a noise diary - you know, the things normal people do if they have issues with 'noisy neighbours'.

As others have said, I'd contact the police or the RSPCA for advice (especially as he threatened to do it then tried to follow through with that threat), and make sure there are no gaps in the fence. You might want to consider covering the roof of the pen as well, in case he decides to start flinging the pellets over.

Sorry but a rabbit can't make [i]that[/i] much noise with mesh on a pen that size. If it was a small hutch with wooden framed mash door that it was banging then fair enough but not that. He is being unreasonable for the sake of it.

I would definitely go down the police route. If he is willing to push poison through then he has demonstrated a willingness to go further than most would.

Photos are very important IMO. Then report to the RSPCA. Good luck! Your neighbour is an absolute disgrace!!

Bombers. Take no prisoners.

I'd just like to point out that my post above does not imply that it the door was making more noise he would be justified in his actions, just that he may have cause for complaint, not death.

taka - Member
buy a cockerel

Nah, if you really want to do it properly, buy a peacock.

More seriously, RSPCA would be my first call.

Neighbours eh! 😈

Anyway, saw in the newspaper today that some animals have been poisoned on some estate somewhere, a few cats and 2 dogs have died as a result, police are asking for any info and making enquiries, but at the end of the article it did say that poisoning of animals and pets can constitute a criminal offence with six months imprisonment and/or a fine of £20,000 ... might want to mention this to the neighbour

As said before, Go straight to the police. Your kids could be in hospital due to whatever your neighbour placed in your pen to kill the rabbits. It is that simple

Make neighbour stew

What's the news, bru?

I think you're both splitting hares

Poisoning rabbits makes Jinx very, very cross indeed.............

There are two possible options. Attempted criminal damage (I kid you not) or animal cruelty. Either way its illegal.

Pics of the noisy rabbits please mtqg 🙂

MTQG I hope you are trolling? 😉

Got to be one of the most upsetting things I have read on here, get your neighbour sectioned before he ends up on the front page of the tabloids!

@shackleton- jinx is very very very cute and ace! My guinea pig does the same now and then! Very funny!

solarpowered - yup, very cute, very friendly and very annoying when he digs the carpet up! Our guinea pigs are too lazy to jump anymore, they just stare bemusedly at a mental rabbit.

Hire a rabbit costume then smash his front door in with an axe and tell him to stop picking on your little brother.

Call the police and if they don't do anything have a quiet "word" with him. Hard to believe what sort of low life would poison someone's pet rabbit.

Enfht has the best idea so far. I doubt I would've kept my cool over this. Don't get me wrong I hunt and eat rabbits but to try and kill a child's pet!!!! Wtf is wrong with him. I would suggest knocking the door with EVERYONE you know stood politely at the curb and ask him why he is trying to kill your stepdaughters pets.

Well it took two pages, but finally we have an proper solution. Well done enfht 🙂

Hire a rabbit costume then smash his front door in with an axe and tell him to stop picking on your little brother.

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Ever thought of removing the source of the problem - get rid of the rabbit?

Surely the source of problem is the neighbour. Getting rid of the neighbour would probably be illegal.

Ever thought of removing the source of the problem - get rid of the [s]rabbit[/s] neighbour?

FIFY

Surely the source of problem is the neighbour.

Rabbit -> Pen -> Noise -> Upset Neighbour -> etc

Source of problem is the rabbit

Rabbit -> Pen -> Noise -> Upset Neighbour -> etc

Source of problem is the rabbit

Don't be so ridiculous. My neighbour's toilet annoys me when they flush it at 4 in the morning. Should they get rid of that?

Buy a drum kit
Practise in the garden

Ever thought of removing the source of the problem - get rid of the rabbit?

Hey Graham! Looks like your neighbour is on the forum!

I would suggest knocking the door with EVERYONE you know stood politely at the curb and ask him why he is trying to kill your stepdaughters pets.

Send the girls round to ask him why he tried to poison Mr Fwuffy.

As always an incisive post from Mrs T.

So what did the police say MTQG? After which I guess this thread will go quiet.

I watched that "Don't Blame Facebook" show last night and there was a guy on there got done for eating a pet goldfish - I think he got a caution for it, so there is obviously a legal implication if any harm comes to an animal through a wilful and deliberate act.

Neighbour could, however, if confronted, say that the rat poison is intended for rats and deny all knowledge of the threat he issued....just saying.

Personally, I'd go for moving the rabbits out of harm's way, in case he does start chucking pellets in the cage or something.

I don't think anyone's mentioned this yet, but any/all "formal" disputes with neighbours have to be declared when you come to sell your house.

And if it looks like your neighbour is an ar5e, then that won't help with a potential house sale.

There isn't a definition of formal, but I suspect that going to police would most definitely be considered "formal".

Painful tho' it may be, try to negotiate, try to accommodate. If that fails, the RSPCA are often prepared to take legal action and can be aggressive where necessary.

Police, much as it would be great to get them onto this guy, might perhaps be a last resort??

I'm sorry to say that police is the only resort.He needs astrong word at the least,locking up at the worst. Do you really think mr nutter will stop due to the RSPCA telling him? Of course not.

An update at last.

Firstly, i started typing a reply while at work, things suddenly got busy, so I shut my phone down, but somehow the unfinished reply got posted.

There is a step in ground level between the gardens. Its a 2m fence our side plus a 0.5m wall his side. He keeps his caravan by his side of the fence and there's a high hedge at the front, so no one can see

I'm stuck in the middle a bit here.
On the one side I've got Mrs MTG, who doesn't want to make a fuss and have police cars parked outside.
On the other, I've got the police who don't appear to think rat poison and children is very important.
I'm the only one who's really pushing for action.

Several phone calls, both to and from the police, no visits, but it all seems to be over.
I've been reported for trespass and criminal damage. I don't know what I'm supposed to have damaged, possibly the aerial lead to the caravan that I tripped over.
The community officer that I've spoken to on the phone was a bit evasive on details about what he'd said to the neighbour and was very non-committal on giving an opinion on anyone involved, which I suppose he has to be, but I got the impression that there is no chance whatsoever of following up on the trespass and damage claims, while the neighbour has had some sort of unofficial warning.

The view from next door.

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You need to hire the A-Team!

And stop going over the fence - you're only going to get caught.

Keep a diary and don't speak to/avoid him.

Put a dead bird next to poison?

Sounds very stressy. I'm afraid I can't offer either useful advice or witty remarks but I hope it works out ok.

have you tried the RSPCA yet? Let them push the police.

Forget the rabbits for a minute.

Your neighbour is putting poison within reach of your children.

I'd contact the police again with that information.