Feds seek $90,000 fine for illegal bunny-selling

They say John Dollarhite of Nixa, Missouri “sold rabbits and guinea pigs without a license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” Dollarhite says he can’t afford the fine and says the business was started by his son, then a child; it “made about $200 in profit from April 2008 to December 2009 from selling rabbits for $10 or $12 apiece.” [Springfield News-Leader]

2 Comments

  • I won’t talk about the merits of this action, but I am involved with a local Bunny Rescue group.

    http://www.therabbithaven.org/

    The tragedy with bunnies is that people buy them as “gifts” around Easter, and then abandon them when they don’t understand the challenges of a pet rabbit. Some action against dealers selling live animals without a license may be warranted.

  • no Robert. Action should be taken against dealers keeping pets in inhumane conditions (dirty, tiny cages, dogs with choking collars, no food or water, etc.) not just for not having paid a bribe to some government flunky to get “licensed”.
    A “licensed” pet dealer won’t have potential customers vetted over their motives for buying that animal either, there’s no difference there.
    I can walk into any petstore anywhere and buy a pet, no questions will be asked as to whether I’m “properly trained”, have the “right mindset to own a pet”, or even whether I can afford to feed that pet.

    Licensing businesses like this is just another way for governments to extort money from citizens, and control who can do what (iow, don’t do anything we don’t like or we take away your business).