Is it Legal to Raise Bunnies for Food?

This evening I was at work, answering calls as per usual, when one of our humane society clients received a call on their after-hours emergency line. Usually I hate getting calls for these guys because their on-call staff is incredibly unhelpful and rude, so I wasn't very excited to answer the line.But, you know, I'm paid to do it, so I sucked it up and picked up. The woman on the other end of the line was very, very nice. She introduced herself (let's call her Mallory) and I gauged her to be around my age, judging from the way she spoke and the timbre of her voice. She explained that she had a very odd situation she needed to talk to someone about and then prodded along by me started sharing her concerns. 

Mallory told me that her and her husband had brought in a rabbit to the SPCA that morning, but that when she got home they found another three or four in their backyard. She explained that she had new neighbours to the one side of her, and that they'd only been living next door a few months. Very politically correct, she described them as being of a 'different cultural background.' Mallory then went on to say that as weird as she knew it sounded, she believed that they were eating their bunnies. And I say bunnies because that was exactly how she referred to them throughout the conversation - never as rabbits, only as bunnies. Mallory then proceeded to tell me that there'd been a few times where her and her husband had smelled a strange smell coming from next door, and that it was like burning hair (which I thought was funny, cause, you know, hair? hare? tee hee). So, one day she peeked her head over the fence and saw in their backyard a large pen about four times the size of a garden shed and it was FILLED with bunnies. 

Naturally, I had no idea what to say at first. Our on call personnel is only for emergencies, and I told her as such, explaining that I didn't think they'd be able to help her as even though I would never kill and eat a bunny, I didn't think it was illegal to do so. She was so appalled, and it was totally cute, but it did make me wonder - IS it illegal to kill and eat rabbits in your backyard?

And nope, it isn't. You can totally raise meat rabbits, slaughter them, and consume them. In fact, there aren't really any rules or regulations about doing so. Also, judging from the posts on the internet, its more popular than I would have ever suspected. Unfortunately, my researches also illuminated me (as unwilling as I was to learn) what's involved in the slaughter of rabbits, and now I will never be able to 'un' learn that information. 

There are some interesting things I did read, though, which kinda make me think. This particular response to a reader's question impressed me. It is regarding small animal husbandry in big city areas, and though the site is from a Calgarian point of  view, I thought what was written was very thorough and educational. You can check that out here: http://www.greencalgary.org/ask-ashley/details/micro-livestock-in-the-city.

I also learned that rabbits are illegal in Queensland, Australia!! I had some fun skimming this: http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosecurity_EnvironmentalPests/IPA-Keeping-Rabbits-As-Pets-PA15.pdf, and really enjoyed that they put a scary red-eyed bunny in the picture!

And, because it is too cute not to post, a pic I found under Google images. You can thank me later!

How Many Countries ARE There!?

Last night Cole and I were watching wrestling, as we like to do, and something they always like to say in their promotional spots is that their show is viewed in so-and-so-many countries -- I think, like, 105. It made me wonder - how big of a deal is that? How many countries ARE there in the world who could possibly view Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown? Of course, I turned to ask Cole as for some reason unbeknownst to him I keep thinking he has all the answers, but he didn't know either. So, I decided to look into the matter. 

I had NO idea how tricky of a question this would turn out to be! Apparently, according to www.worldatlas.com, the number of countries varies depending on who you ask! About.com states that their official response to the question is 196, though there are only 193 member countries in the United Nations. Did you know that the Vatican City is considered its own country? And that its not a member of the UN? I thought that was intriguing. And Kosovo is not a member of the UN either! 

Interestingly, there are also several places I always thought were countries that actually aren't! It makes sense about Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England actually all being members of the United Kingdom - although I don't approve. They should all be sovereign entities! Its the zero-zeros people! But I had NO idea that Greenland isn't an official country! And I even did a project on Greenland in Grade 7! Another kid slips through the cracks of the education system.

In case you're curious, Greenland is actually a constituent country of Denmark! Did anyone in Greenland notice that they're country is a billion times bigger? Yeah, yeah, I know, Denmark has more people and less land mass to protect in case of war. But still.

And Taiwan is not considered its own country either! If Taiwan was a person and you asked it, hey, are you a country? Taiwan would answer yes. But for some reason, China insists that Taiwan is just one of their provinces! Apparently Taiwan was even its own member of the UN until China REPLACED it in 1971. How does something like that happen!? Poor little itty bitty Taiwan! *sad face*

And, I'm using a lot of exclamation marks because this is just all so interesting, I may explode. 

How Can You Tell if a Kitten is Male or Female?

So, I'm participating in the glorious November event National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to the pros) and am currently working on my 50,000 word pile of crap. I'm starting to understand what authors mean when they say that their story seems to write itself because I'm experiencing that first hand. In my novel, currently untitled, my main character has just found a little cat on her balcony. She wants to keep this cat, and give it a special name, but she can't name it until she knows what gender it is!

Since this is a mystery I, myself, have experienced, I decided to do a little online research. I thought this would also be a perfect topic for this blog as I imagined there would be a plethora of heinous pictures I could post in here. But, after doing some reading, and looking at some startlingly frank images, I've decided that if you want to see the pictures you can follow the link yourself. I'd rather not assault anyone's unsuspecting eyes!

I can give you the skinny on sexing a kitten, though.

Firstly, under the tail of a kitten there will be two little openings, one above the other. The first little opening is their anus, and the second opening that sits below the anus is their genitals. On a male cat, the space between the two openings is farther apart than on a female, because in between the anus and the genitals is where the kitty's little testicles grow! Also, with the opening for the genitalia, on a male it is shaped like a dot, and on a female like a sideways slit. 

You can see graphic images to demonstrate these tips here: http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-kittens.html. 

Otherwise, I shall leave you with this: 

Is Bel Air a Real Place?

D and I were talking late last night about popular lingo. Apparently, Jersey Shore is the go-to place for the newest hip talk - a fact which is 'slightly' worrisome. Anyways, D kept dropping the 'f' bomb. No, not the four letter one... the five letter one. I guess 'fresh' is back in! 

I wanted to clarify the newest meaning of fresh and asked Dani if we were trying to be fresh as in Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Maybe it was the late hour, or maybe I'm just a bubblehead, but this led me to wonder if Bel Air was actually a real place, or if it was made up for the tv show! I knew Beverly Hills was real, but Bel Air? If I don't hear about it in celebrity news a few dozen times I just can't be sure. And, then I wondered, if Bel Air WAS a real place, does it still exist?

According to the internet, it sure does! According to Wikipedia about 8000 people live there! That place must be crazy big. And hey, you can live there, too! 

This stunning home is only 11.4 million dollars!