News broke tonight that 17 of the 18 rabbits taken from Levi Cole’s residence were being returned via the organization Rabbit Advocates.

Writing commentary about this process, and most public cases that include other animals, brings to light so much of the conflict that exists in society about our relationship with other animals. All of the familiar rationalizations come to the forefront – the depth of domination being it’s own justification (i.e. people will always eat animals), the terrorism rhetoric, caged animals are safe animals, other animals actually prefer domination, the arbitrary distinction between “meat” rabbits and “other rabbits,” etc. I could write endless commentary on reactions alone. Some of my favorites have come from the messageboards “Homesteading Today” and “Rabbit Talk” – “Rabbit Talk” featuring the tagline “Rabbits for profit, rabbits for fun, rabbits for just about everyone.” Rabbits occupy a weird space in terms to their social construction of worth – i.e. speciesism – in that they are common pets, but are also commonly eaten for their flesh. This presents a unique narrative that is far more sadistic and perverse than most narratives around the use of other domesticated “farmed” animals. Although the title refers specifically to the role that Rabbit Advocates have played in delivering these rabbits back to Levi Cole and the Portland Meat Collective – much of our cultural narrative around rabbits relies on intimate betrayal. Claims of victory for those supporting the Portland Meat Collective are indicative of this as well. Much of the triumphalism has centered around comments of destroying those animals in celebration.

As for how this has been handled in the press, there is a notable difference bewteen the Portland Meat Collective’s website post about the rabbits return and the story run by KATU. The KATU story states that Rabbit Advocates were aware of the issue after receiving a call from Levi Cole looking for a foster mom for the alleged ten (day old) baby rabbits. This is left out of the Portland Meat Collective story which suggests contact comes from Rabbit Advocates to the PDX Meat Collective. Either way, the timeline is highly suspect as these 18 rabbits had all been rehomed by the time they realized these were the rabbits that Levi Cole and the PDX Meat Collective raise for their sadistic rituals. This is yet another inconsistency that would suggest to me that the alleged 10 babies never existed.

As it currently stands there is one rabbit that has not been returned. We hope that there is at least one decent person involved in “Rabbit Advocates” who is actually interested in the well being and protection of an innocent creature.