To the editor:
My son sent me a text this past Wednesday about a news piece he saw on a local Des Moines TV station. It was about a rabbit attacking and biting people in Perry.
I did not look into it until the next day (Thursday). After watching the video, I was immediately struck by how indifferent all involved were to the possibility of that rabbit being rabid.
The only exception, in my opinion, were the parents of that 13-year-old girl who is going to receive rabies shots. I say kudos to those parents!
Everyone else gets a dunce cap, in my opinion, especially the Perry Police Department. After all, they had the rabbit in their custody and purposely turned it loose, never to be seen again.
Oops!
Now no one will ever know whether that rabbit was rabid or not unless, of course, people start dying. That rabbit should have been tested for rabies! I urge everyone who was bitten by that rabbit to get rabies shots. Rabies is almost 100% fatal.
Yes, I know that rabbit looked like a domestic variety (it was black), and it could have been teased to death by its owner, causing it to be aggressive, but are you really willing to take that chance?
I would also like to say that I wholly support the Perry Police Department, but you goofed on this one. You should know how to handle animal bite situations. If nothing else, you should have consulted a medical expert before you turned the specimen loose.
Steve Crusan
Perry
What the news did not mention was one of the persons bitten was the chief of police, and the rabbit was taken in for observation prior to being released. Granted, the only way to know 100% the rabbit was not rabid would have been to cut its head off and check its brain, but I’m sure the trained veterinarians involved in the observation of the rabbit’s behavior while incarcerated were able to make an accurate assessment prior to saying it was safe to release the rabbit. It’s so much easier for the media to try to make a mockery of our police department rather than tell the entire story.
I don’t believe The Perry News made a statement about proper or improper procedure at all. You’re right, though. There’s so much of small town stories left untold. There’s so many small town stories that are sheer gibberish. Anyway, it wasn’t our local media here that was critical of the actions taken. The letter above here was critical but The Perry News published nothing in the way of criticism its own self.
Our daughter has a bunny that looks remarkably similar to this one. It’s a house bunny and would probably act in the same fashion as this one did if let outside. Would hope someone considered the fact that it’s rare to see a black rabbit outdoors and this could’ve been a pet someone no longer wanted and did the inhumane thing of just leaving it out rather than bring to an animal shelter.