Four rabbits taken from Vazon business after online criticism

Vazon Bay Holiday apartments owner Richard Goman has defended his decision to keep rabbits on the premises to entertain children, after being criticised on social media for the conditions they are allegedly kept in.

Now, however, the story has taken a more serious turn because some of the rabbits have been taken.

Mr Goman said he did not think the timing of the disappearance was a coincidence.

‘I’m not computer literate,’ said the 85-year-old, who has kept rabbits on and off since he was a child.

‘But I gather there was stuff on Facebook and that accelerated things.’

Creature Comforts owner Michelle Botes visited the premises with Animal Aid founder Sue Vidamour on Thursday to check on the animals after a complaint was made.

Mrs Botes later posted on social media claiming that when she arrived the hutches had ‘no hay and minimal bedding,’ and that they were living in ‘tiny cages’. Then on Friday night four rabbits went missing.

‘I was going for coffee on Saturday and it was not properly light, about 5.45am,’ Mr Goman said. ‘I was very disappointed to see two rabbits, when there should have been six.’

The missing animals were about two months old. Two were honey-coloured, one was black and the other white.

The hutches, which are opposite the apartments’ office, had not been damaged by whoever took them and the hutch door had been secured again.

Mr Goman said he was reporting the matter to the police. He suspected some young people on bicycles, whom he had seen in the area on Friday night, but he could not be certain.

He said the situation made him sad.

‘I love keeping rabbits,’ he said.

‘I clean them every morning and feed them. If I’m under pressure in the office, I can just go out and feed them.’

Mr Goman gets the rabbits each spring at the start of the season, then gives them to another person keep over the winter, when he can be off-island.

Before the theft 10 rabbits were spread between three cages of 1.2m long and 0.6m wide, with one cage housing six animals.

The rabbits are not let out, except when being handled by children.

Mr Goman has kept them as an attraction on the property for the last 20 years.

‘They’re cleaned out every day – hygiene is the most important.

‘They said the hutches are too small, but rabbits have been kept like this for hundreds of years,’ he said.

The social media post claimed some of the rabbits had died in recent months.

‘Four [females] arrived and one must have had an illness, they call it a virus.

‘I didn’t take them to the vet because I’ve never been one to

take them to the vet,’ said Mr Goman.

Mrs Botes was outraged the rabbits were being used as commodities. ‘They aren’t playthings,' she said.