Breeding: Frustration! Run out of ideas!

[auburnmare5]

I have put up several threads on this before. I go to a vocational school, and one of the majors is animal science. I was going into animal science for Equine studies, but I also went to the school for Environmental Science as well.
I got into Environmental Science as my major, but one of the deciding points for me was because my school breeds their animals, would I be able to do that? (Because this is part of one of my courses.)
Recently, the bunnies at school had babies. We now have I believe 14 baby bunnies.
The part of this that really concerns me is that when the school goes to "adopt" the animals, they say to have a parent sign a note, bring a cage to school, and take your animal basically. I think that they do some sort of application, but I am not 100% sure about that.
There are signs plastered all around school that read "ADOPT A BUNNY! $10 BUY 1 GET ONE FREE!"
Seriously? Buy 1 get one? What are they merchandise? It is horrifying to wonder how many people see these signs, realize that all the bunnies are taken, and then go to a petstore, breeder, or worse, go to their friend to breed the bunny and then get one of the babies.
I have asked several animal sciene teachers if I could put up signs that say something anti-breeding/petstore, but she said the school would never allow it. I did educate my classmates several times on this through persuasive essay presentations, and making points when we go to see the baby animals. (I have stayed outside the room every time, because it saddens me that much to think that other animals have potentially died in these animals places.)
I am in a position, where I am trying so hard to make a point, but at the same time, try to convince people, and to not get into an arguement, or get in trouble. I have sort of run out of ideas. Does anyone else have any ideas as to what I can do?

[Africa]

I am doing my Masters in Animal Science at Kansas State, it will be hard to do anything if you are approaching the wrong people in your department. Most animal scientists have more of a production point of view where their focus on the animals (cattle, sheep, chickens etc) is to make them grow faster, make more money and basically optimize their growth through feeding. There are usually faculty in animal science that focus on welfare/behaviour though and my suggestion would be to find the right people to speak to about this because speaking to others on this matter would be like speaking to a brick wall

[akstrohm]

You could volunteer to help with the adoption process. You could design an application and meet with potential adopters if they will let you. You could also make a pamphlet that explains proper rabbit care. That way at least people will have easy access to learning how to best care for the rabbit. Good luck!

[auburnmare5]

Originally Posted by Africa

I am doing my Masters in Animal Science at Kansas State, it will be hard to do anything if you are approaching the wrong people in your department. Most animal scientists have more of a production point of view where their focus on the animals (cattle, sheep, chickens etc) is to make them grow faster, make more money and basically optimize their growth through feeding. There are usually faculty in animal science that focus on welfare/behaviour though and my suggestion would be to find the right people to speak to about this because speaking to others on this matter would be like speaking to a brick wall

The thing is, is that all of the teachers are teachers of the upperclassmen, and they all teach specific animals like one teaches horses, one teaches birds and reptiles, etc... The school breeds all of its small animals, and fish. They do not breed the birds, reptiles, or horses. But the thing is, that they all teach students about breeding, so there isn't really anyone I can go to (except for the principal, which I may do), that will fully understand. Some understand, but they don't get it completely like they ask "Well, then what will happen when they go extinct? That is why we breed them, to keep their numbers up."
***Ummm, hello? Last time I checked, we had a surplus of many animals. If we want to breed animals, we should breed the ones that need our help, like endangered species!***

Originally Posted by akstrohm

You could volunteer to help with the adoption process. You could design an application and meet with potential adopters if they will let you. You could also make a pamphlet that explains proper rabbit care. That way at least people will have easy access to learning how to best care for the rabbit. Good luck!

That won't really work, we supposedly "adopt out" our animals, but I don't see much evidence of that at all. For animal care, they go by the book, and when I try to teach some kids some things that I know. (Like what veggies to feed and not, and brands of pellets, etc...) I get spoken to by the teacher saying that the information that I was giving out was incorrect because that is not how we learned it.
When our class was working with rodents, we had to do a long answer question where the question said something about buying an animal from a breeder. So when I wrote the response, I put instead of breeder "You go to an adoption center, to adopt a homeless guinea pig." No one said anything about that though.

But it really is frustrating, when you hear all of your friends talking about how if they got an animal and their friend gets an animal, how they can breed them and have such cute little babies. Some of my classmates make fun of me, and some days I really do want to give up.

But, they are going to figure out quickly that I won't run away from this battle, and I will continue fighting it until the problem is fixed.

[auburnmare5]

What would be the best course of action to take for a campaign? So I can explain to the principal when I go to ask him? I am asking so I can give him an idea of what kinds of ways I was thinking of campaigning.

[sophistacavy]

Originally Posted by auburnmare5

What would be the best course of action to take for a campaign? So I can explain to the principal when I go to ask him? I am asking so I can give him an idea of what kinds of ways I was thinking of campaigning.

Well, it doesn't sound like any of the people at your school would have any respect for PETA, but you could try showing your principal that video that PETA has about "buy one get one killed". That would be especially useful considering that the phrase "buy one get one free" is popular with your classmates and teachers/staff. Here is a link: PETA TV:'Buy One, Get One Killed'

I would also suggest offering to show the principal things that would be relevant to your case from the HSUS website, as well as other things on PETA's website. I would be surprised if the principal of your school at least didn't have some sense.