Rabbits in QLD

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Gibblore

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I did a qutoe at a house this week and they had one, they said you can keep them with a permit is this true?
 
no not true. only way you can keep rabbits in qld is if you are a magician and it is a large part of your act for income earning purposes or is you are a medical research facility. i believe there is also a permit for educational facilities but i think that only applies to zoos.

i do feel that they should be legalised if they are desexed and licenced, microchipped, etc. they do no harm if kept by responsible owners and make such lovely pets.
 
Thats what I thought. My daugther would love one but I am not willing to break the law to get her one.
 
you'd be surprised how many people have them in qld though. we get 'long-eared guineapigs' at the clinic all the time. vets don't care, they're pets and that's all that matters to us. We have one regular who comes in every month for a teeth clip, little Pepper is practically a mascot! Aside from the people that keep them knowing they are illegal there are even more who have no idea that they are illegal and just happily potter along through their lives with no problems with authorities, i have never heard of anyone getting caught with them. I don't see them being legalised anytime soon though which is a shame.
 
You can't keep them on a permit, though everyone who has one will tell you that you can.
It used to be legal to keep them if you were a magician and it was part of your act, but they have since done away with that law I believe (according to my exotic pet medicine lecturer)
They come in to many clinics as "long-eared guinea pigs" and I haven't met a vet who has a problem with that. It's not illegal to treat a rabbit, however, it is illegal to hospitalise one, because then the vet is considered to be in possession of a rabbit.

I wish we could import desexed rabbits. They're just so cute and I would love to have one!
 
I believe there was a place or organistation on the NSW QLD border at one stage for 're-homing' pet rabbits when families were moving to qld.

They apparently ended up at CWS as food for the wedge tails, scrubbies etc. :lol:
 
I grew up in Victoria and if you could see the damage rabbits have done there ...(wild or escaped pets) anyone in their right mind would never

legally allow rabbits into our beautiful Queensland.

I kept pet rabbits as a kid and know they are better escape artists than reptiles.

Cheers
Sandee :)
 
My husband works up Mackay way and they dug up with the digger 3 baby wild rabbits not hares rabbits and one of the boys saved 1 off the back of the truck they were filling and took it home for his wife. It fits in a stubby cooler. Cute as! So I am not understanding the huge problem with them in Qld! They are here wild!
 
We go shooting in western qld and the properties are starting to get thick with them so I can't see the difference whether you own one or not, I know they do damage when wild but come on your allowed to own cats and they do far more damage. We haven't even shot any out there for some time since we were hoping they would breed up a bit for future as the drought knocked em about a fair bit.
 
Didn't they do studies in WA, and found that domestic rabbits had basically ZERO impact on the environment and wild rabbit populations?

If so then there's no reason QLD needs to be so backward in their laws - or as many other people have proposed, simply have them legal but desexed only.
 
Why "if they allowed them in QLD, just desexed only"? What about the people who want to breed them for snake food etc. and/or make a business of it like they do with rodents? You can't breed desexed rabbits now can you?
I dont see what the big deal is or what difference it really makes, when they're here thick as anything in the wild anyways... I recently saw one up here in FNQ... And no it wasn't a hare. That suprised me, considering the climate and all that, and I was told they don't live up here because of it etc.

Rabbits, mice, rats, toads, feral cats, pigs, dogs, etc... They're all the same... Pretty sure there's not much anyone can do about them now, maybe back in the day when there was almost half a chance, but not now... That ship has pretty much long since sailed... Unfortunately. No restrictions on half of the other problem "pets-gone-wild"...

Anyways, JMO.
 
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Desexed only would make a bigger chance for the law to be passed in the first place.

It happens with every animal though, I just hate seeing things overbred where it gets to the point they are only bred for money, and they end up homeless or abused etc etc.
 
I don't like seeing it either, but unfortunately, its a fact of life, if there's money to be made, you can be sure someone's going to take advantage of it and/or exploit it. Petshops are a big contender for that one... It's all supply and demand. And some things will never change.

I just don't see the point in having them illegal when it makes no real difference in this case. I'd like to be able to freely breed my own rabbits to feed my big snakes. Plus, apart from occasionally being mauled by pet bunny's claws, I liked keeping them when I lived in NSW.
If we're allowed to keep rodents, which have been known to spread disease and all sorts of nasties, not to mention chewing through and destroying everything they can wrap their mouths around... Why not Rabbits too?
 
I agree with you there, rats and mice are much more likely to create problems if they got loose - but unfortunately I don't see rabbits being legalised any time soon.

If we can't keep rabbits, at least let us keep NATIVE mammals - but no we can't even do that here.
 
I don't like seeing it either, but unfortunately, its a fact of life, if there's money to be made, you can be sure someone's going to take advantage of it and/or exploit it. Petshops are a big contender for that one... It's all supply and demand. And some things will never change.

I just don't see the point in having them illegal when it makes no real difference in this case. I'd like to be able to freely breed my own rabbits to feed my big snakes. Plus, apart from occasionally being mauled by pet bunny's claws, I liked keeping them when I lived in NSW.
If we're allowed to keep rodents, which have been known to spread disease and all sorts of nasties, not to mention chewing through and destroying everything they can wrap their mouths around... Why not Rabbits too?
Clearly having Rabbits illegal in Queensland does make a difference. A number of contributors to the thread including yourself have implied they dont /wont keep rabbits because it is illegal.
 
There is a $30,000 fine for being caught with a rabbit in QLD. It used to be $10,000 but was upped recently. It is ridiculous and has little effect on people keeping rabbits, only makes them less likely to seek care if they need it. A lot of people are unaware of these laws, and the the people who breed/sell them are often scam artists.
 
Are you sure the fines a so heavy? is there a link to this? and who is in charge of handing them out thanks
 
I loved having rabbits as pets (only), and would do so again. I also like eating rabbit...and shooting ferals ones. My Darwin carpet also likes to eat rabbit :) Talk about a love/hate relationship :lol:
 
I loved having rabbits as pets (only), and would do so again. I also like eating rabbit...and shooting ferals ones. My Darwin carpet also likes to eat rabbit :) Talk about a love/hate relationship :lol:

Nah I'm sure they loved it too :D
 
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