Editor:
Re: Rabbits to be relocated, Jan. 11
I am an average citizen living in Richmond. I have lived here on and off for 30 years. I pay my taxes, I am law-abiding. I even worked for the city for 15 years.
I enjoy nature and I like to take walks in Minoru Park. But every walk I take in the park is now depressing and sad and frustrating. Every walk I take in the park I see rabbits suffering.
Again and again I see rabbits injured and in pain. I ask the city for help, but it's not interested. I tell it of a rabbit I see with a horrible oozing infected eye. I'm told they will "make patrols."
You see, I am just an average citizen. In their eyes, I don't matter. If an average citizen doesn't matter, than what chance does a suffering rabbit have of mattering?
I have never owned a rabbit in my life. I have had very little contact with rabbits. But I recognize suffering when I see it and I believe it does matter.
And I may be just an unimportant average citizen, but unlike the rabbits, I do have a voice and I can speak out. What I see every week in the park, on every walk I take, is not acceptable. And I will not stay silent about the suffering I see.
In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
I know I am not alone in my refusal to keep quiet and accept the suffering of the rabbits.
Thank you, Delta, for caring enough to not keep silent when your rabbits were suffering.
I hope one day Richmond will listen and choose not to stay silent as well.
Cindy Howard
