Well, this is a sucky way of starting a day. Around 12 o'clock, my father discovered two dogs sleeping under our rabbit's cages in the backyard. We suspect that the dogs got in through a hole in the fence to the upper left area of our yard. My father found the owner's phone number on one of the dogs' tag and called the owner. The owner came by at took the dogs away but a little after that, my father discovered that two of the rabbits are missing. Their cages were ripped open and a massive pile of white fur was found not too far away from the cages. My father starting to break down with sorrow and anger while my mother and I went to look around the yard to see what could had happened to the second bunny, in case that rabbit got away. My mother then called the owner again, telling her that we just lost two rabbits to those dogs and we want about a hundred dollars as compensation for their deaths. The owner, unfortunately, was only a teenager girl and she told us that she'll have to talk to her parents about what to do.

Well, anyway, I'm quite pissed at what just happened. The owners of the dogs should compensate us in some way for the lost of our two rabbits because of their irresponciblity to keep their dogs in their yard. Anyone think that is fair game or are we wrong in some way of doing that?

Of course they need to compensate you. Their dogs killed your rabbits. How much is another story...although I'd assume at least the price you paid for the rabbits.

You are not wrong in any way. Seriously, losing a pet due to someone else's carelessness is really bad. If they don't pay up, then well... I dunno what to say :S

thats totally fair to ask for compensation. if the owners of the dogs can't keep their animals where they are supposed to be then that is their fault

Edit: Changed my post.
I hope all goes well

You could probably sue even. But I';m sure they will compensate you if they are decent people.

If they are a-holes about it you could always kill their dogs for revenge.

That's extremely harsh on you, and you should definitely recieve some compensation. Whether $100 is a reasonable amount or not, I'm not sure. I was under the impression that rabbits are very, very cheap- even free, if you find a friend who has a breeding pair.

Yeah I'd ask for alittle something to cover the animals they should probably be more than happy to pass you a few bucks. Even if the rabbits were free just to cover the food that's now a waste.

poor bunnies

I can see this two completely different ways.

1. It's not fair that you loose your pet(s) because someone else failed to restrain theirs. On the other hand...
2. Dogs are carnivores. Rabbits are prey. Just because they are pets doesn't make the laws of nature different. Carnivores eat prey. That's just the ways it is. Sorry.

at uni, we have a lot of rabbits running around loose. The campus is considerably rabbit-infested with rabbits of all shapes, sizes, and colors. You have to watch where you walk if you go on the lawn b/c if you're not careful, you could break your ankle in a rabbit hole. i've seen it happen.

It's a shame that you don't live here, or you could steal two rabbits from the campus to replace yours. No one owns the college rabbits as far as I know (they merely exist there) , so i doubt that anyone would care.

I thought about swiping a rabbit a few times for a pet, but held off b/c i really have no place where I could keep it.

No one's advocating punishment of the dogs, but punishment of the owners for their inability to keep their dog out of his property.

$100 for two rabbits? Isn't that a little...high? I owned a rabbit once, and I got it for free. Didn't even know the people either. They just posted in the paper that they were giving away rabbits. Weren't the only ones either.

can you say, pure bred, or bought from pet shop.

um... how could one steal something that belongs to nobody? :p

Really? I thought it sounded low, but whatever. :\

Sorry to hear about the bunny rabbits though.

It sounds wrong to ask for compensation normally as if it will bring your pets back, BUT you aren't acting in that way. Really what I think is that you need to get what the rabbits cost you, expenses, and if that isn't much then enough to deter them from ever letting their dogs run loose in other's yards again. The payment isn't as much to make up for the loss as to deter them from future irresponsibility. I'd say enough to pay for the bunnies, some for food, and have them buy you two more. It's easier to replace a loss with more pets or you just get so sad when they die :|

It'd make more sense to have the girl get you two new rabbits, plus whatever compensation for the damaged cage. Just asking for $100 seems a bit awkward.

We aren't really interested in getting more bunnies because we own about 30+ rabbits, most of them of old age. If anything, we're expecting most of them to die off. However, the two rabbits that got killed were both fairly young, one being about 6 and the other about 2 years old. In the picture below, the one of that fair left is one of the bunnies that was killed (or at least we think that one is indeed dead since we haven't found any signs of that rabbit being eaten, unlike the other one).

NOTE: this is an old image. Those rabbits are a lot older now. I just don't have a more recent image.

How big were the dogs?

Kill their dogs. Better yet, kill the owners so it doesn't happen again.

UPDATE: Well, it appears that the owners of the dogs is refusing to return our calls. This isn't looking good. My folks are planning to call animal control if they don't call back within 24 hours.

some people just disgust me....

My friend would havea grand old time with an air rifle or BB gun there. He hates rabbits and squirrels with a passion.

Dude, a long time ago, a wise man uttered the phrase "**** happens." And that's a fact. The best advice I can give is "get over it."

Calling animal control probably wouldn't be a good thing unless you want the dogs dead. If you do, I guess it could be good. Just not for the dogs.

Wow, how cold hearted. Perhaps I should go over to your house, kill whatever animal you have, and tell you that "***** happens".

I don't have animals. What now?

Well, guess that explains why you don't know anything. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

What don't I know? I have had animals in the past. Sometimes they get hit by cars, sometimes they just run off... Big deal. It happens! When my cat got hit by a car you didn't see me running around crying foul. It happens, it's out of your control.

?

Close family?

What if the driver wasn't IN the car--what if they had parked it and gone to get some tacos and the car rolled over the cat because they had left it in neutral? That's more what this is really.

The point is, if something you can't control happens, there's no point *****ing about it. Plus, it's in the past. Just get over it. So some one else's animals ate your animals. Maybe you should have kept your rabbits inside, or built a better enclosure. It's just as much your fault as it is their's. Granted their dogs should not have been on your property, but admittadly, this could have been avoided by your side easily.

I had a cat once. When she died, I was a bit sad, but I said "oh well" and carried on. Yeah, it's unfair, and it's only an animal, but something should be done to the owners or their dogs because if they can't control them, they shouldn't have them.

I understand what Bill says, because I'm like him in that respect, but I also understand what SavageX says, because even though he wasn't responsible, someone else was and generally, that someone else should do something as compensation.

My two pence.

Dont want to be rude and stuff...But you know, when something bad happens to a human, they say: thats life...and i feel really sorry for you, but you cant bleam those dogs of a quilty, you know, it is in there personality, the kill for food (all the creatures that are smaller), and dogs are sometimes killed by cats (it happend before so dont laugh). Its life man...Life sucks

I would have called animal control immediately.

If the owners of the pets cannot keep them under control, and they present a danger to other people/animals living in the area, they should be taken away.

Although I do think the owners should be put down, rather than the dogs...