Latest / Two Tools, No Clue / M4 Rabbit Scandals
Transcript
- Jey & Anna: Hey everyone, welcome to the Two Tools No Clue podcast. I'm Anna. And I'm Jeiden. And on today's mini-sode, we're gonna be talking about rabbit scandals. So I didn't realize when we recorded last week's rabbit episode that it's going to come out the Thursday after Easter. Ooh, how fitting. Perfect without even trying. Yeah, nice job. And if you got a rabbit for Easter, I sincerely hope that you keep it and give it a loving, warm, happy home until the day it dies. Do people do that? Are people horrible like that? ⁓ you're going to find out. ⁓ no. Hey everyone, future Anna here. So in editing, I realized that I goofed a little bit and I just want to make amends. Jimmy Carter died December 29th, not the 9th. So what comes to mind when I say rabbit scandals? Like fur coats or something like that. Okay. You're not too, too far off. have two stories for us today. Okay. One's sad and depressing and the other one is short and funny. To lift our spirits back up. What'd you say? I said, I guess I'm ready for both. Buckle up. our first, I'm just going to jump right into it. So our first is called the Peace Bunny Foundation scandal. Caleb Smith was eight years old when he adopted his first pet rabbit. Unfortunately, the rabbit died not even a year later. So Caleb went online looking for a replacement and he was shocked and saddened when he found hundreds of available rabbits abandoned after Easter. Looking at you guys, hope you didn't get any rabbits for Easter. Don't be abandoning them. you Caleb cry more? He already lost his rabbit. Yeah. He said, quote, It really bothered me that people couldn't commit to a rabbit's 10 year lifespan, so I took as many as I could. When Caleb's house couldn't hold any more rabbits, a local family farm offered him space in their barn. Around the time Caleb was 11, he decided he didn't just want his rabbits to live happy lives, he wanted them to be able to help people too. He had a dream of training his rabbits to comfort people and even be emotional support animals. Caleb, you're such a sweetheart. It started out so wholesome. What does the world do to you? Most things do. So when he was 14, he came across a 22 acre island on the Mississippi River and somehow he talked the owners into letting him camp there with his rabbits for a couple months. Wow. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. I would never. First, how do you figure out who the owners are of this random ass island. Yeah. And then how do you have the balls to just approach them be like, can I camp here with my rabbits? Kids don't have rejection. I had rejection at 14. A lot like a lot of boys that is don't understand that yet. His goal was to use the predator free island as his space to train them to comfort animals and he wanted to see how they like roaming around. So somehow not only does he talk these owners into letting him camp there with his rabbits, he finds an investor to buy the owners out. He named it Peace Bunny Island. So his initial project, the Peace Bunny Foundation, which began in 2017, began to sell merch, post educational activities and request donations for the rabbits care. Caleb also published a memoir in 2021 called Get Ready. It's a long one. Peace Bunny Island. the extraordinary journey of a boy and his comfort rabbits and how they're teaching us about hope and kindness. And 100 % of the profits went straight towards his plans for the foundation. Okay. So while at the Island peace bunny foundation relied on the help of foster families to keep all of their rabbits housed. And I watched like a little video about it and this family comes up and he like gives him, he's like, into them and he's like I'll see you in two months. So it sounds like he would like loan them out for a couple months at a time in order to have them all housed. Okay. Because it was like getting out of hand already. Yeah as bunnies do. Yes. So in May of 2017 the foundation moved all of their bunnies off the island to a six acre farm outside of Minneapolis which they rented from a family called the Williams. The farm was a retired dairy farm complete with a large main barn, outbuildings and pasture land where they could keep their rabbits full time. So was like the perfect spot for them. The barn for all of these rabbits. And so they didn't have to foster them out anymore. They could keep them all there. The Williams weren't sure what to do with their property moving forward. So the Smiths jumped at the opportunity. They named this place Peace Bunny Cottage. And they continued to use Peace Bunny Island to train the rabbits. So over the years, the story of the Peace Bunny Foundation has been featured in national press outlets such as People, Washington Post and NBC's Today Show. Although many wrote glowing reviews without actually visiting the establishment. ⁓ gosh, that's how they get you. Do you want to hear something shocking? Yes. I don't know if I do, but you're going to tell me anyway. So one of the Fox news outlets like Fox nine or whatever, Refused to do a story on them because they weren't allowed to see inside the establishment. Isn't that crazy? Fox, Peace Bunny Island, what you doing? Fox of all of all news outlets. I know what this is. Yeah. Sorry. So here we go. July 27th, 2022, police received a call from a property owner who notified them about a case of animal neglect happening in a barn they leased to Peace Bunny Foundation president Stephanie Hope Smith, who was out of town at the time. Oh, no. So Caleb, he's a child. Yeah, Stephanie Hope Smith is the culprit. Is the adult in this situation who let it get to this point. Yeah, she's the issue. So she's the adult trying to get money out of this. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Like, Caleb just wanted to help people. I feel like his mom kind of I don't know that I'm just I'm talking out of my ass right now. I didn't I'm just assuming. And she's also the one who took the legal. Yeah, against her. Oh, okay. So the next day police got a warrant and launched their investigation. They found upwards of 300 rabbits living in terrible conditions with one officer saying quote the smell of death, feces and urine was overwhelming. Bring me the news.com said feces was quote piled so high that the animals were tunneling through it. The rabbits like, what do you expect? That wasn't in the quote, by the way. And quote, according to the criminal complaint, 47 rabbits were fed, found dead inside the barn and several hundred others were running loose. End quote. These rabbits aren't fixed either. So there's producing more rabbits. That's so sad. Most of the cages lack food and water and many rabbits were injured. Two rabbits were apparently euthanized on the scene due to irremediable suffering. The local humane society obtained anywhere from 100 to 200 rabbits from the property and got to work on the monumental task of finding them all homes. Stephanie Hope Smith was charged with two felony counts of animal and torture, as well as three misdemeanors for the mistreatment of animals. If convicted on all charges, ⁓ She was facing four years in jail and $13,000 in fines. Which is like not nearly enough. in jail for like five times more of that. Exactly. Like how dare you do that to a living thing and then like times it by 300. Right. And then also take advantage of a small child's passion for animals. Exactly. Just so sad. Do you want to guess what she got? Nothing. A stupid fine. Oh, it's a little more than that. It's a little bit better than she was slapped with one misdemeanor charge. She was sentenced to one year of supervised probation. In defense of animals said quote, she must remain law abiding, not commit similar crimes, follow instructions of probation and may not possess own or care for any animals. She must also complete 80 hours of community service and pay $188 in fines. Disgusting. Not enough. not enough. Not enough, not nearly enough. Stephanie allegedly wrote a blog post stating that Peace Bunny Foundation was ceasing all programs, pledged not to obtain new rabbits, and not to use Foundation money on her legal defense. But I didn't see that post and it was taken down from the Peace Bunnies website. Maybe it's still out there. I'm not that good of a sleuth. I didn't see it. Peace Bunny's like, screw you. Yeah. The Peace Bunny Foundation's website and social media have been inactive since the scandal and the foundation is no longer listed as a functioning non-profit. And it was really sad because I should have wrote this in here, but Caleb had a quote where to summarize it he was like I'm sorry that this final chapter had to end like this basically like he's obviously I Don't blame him at all. Yeah Okay on to the funny one ⁓ So God this scandal is called the killer swamp rabbit Don don don This doesn't sound funny, this sounds terrifying. So I'm going to give you a brief history of the swamp rabbit. Okay. Discovered in 1834, swamp rabbits or sylvilligus aquaticus are species of cottontail rabbit that are native to swamps and wetlands in the southern, southern, southern United States, with them being most abundant in Louisiana, Missouri and Alabama. Alabama. Alabama. cannot speak right now. names for them include swampers, ⁓ cutters, or cane jacks. ⁓ southern names. Those are very southern names. ⁓ they don't technically live in the water, they will run into it and swim away when threatened. ⁓ are known to be herbivores, nocturnal, and are also known to be territorial. Due to their territorial behavior, swamp rabbits actually have a social order with higher and lower ranking males and females. Kind of like a pecking order in chickens. Yeah. Wow. So this next bit I'm about to tell you is entirely from good old Wikipedia. I'm here for it. On April 20th, 1974, 420 blaze it. President Jimmy Carter was taking a small getaway from his presidential duties on his farm in Plains, Georgia. He was fishing alone in a John Boat on a pond on his property, just enjoying the day, minding his own business, when suddenly a swamp rabbit runs into the water and starts swimming straight for him. He said it was hissing at him with its nostrils flaring and its teeth bared. What? Terrified, he did what anyone would do. What would you do? Row away. Row away. Well, he took his paddle and he splashed water at it. Okay, I would probably do that too, but I think I would try to row away. It swam away from him with no further incident and President Carter, shaken but continued to fish. Sounds like some kangaroo behavior. Kangaroo behavior? Kangaroos are really territorial and really aggressive. ⁓ A White House photographer actually to capture the image of the debacle. ⁓ And is going to do his editing magic and post it here. Yep. Here he is. Here he is. If he did it, here he is. he is. Hopefully. ⁓ But describe it for our listeners, it's like picture through trees of Jimmy Carter facing away from the camera, sitting in his longboat. And there, if you look to the right of the picture, there's a teeny tiny rabbit you can see swimming away from him. And I think you can see him splashing water at it. There's like a little splash in the water next to him. That's too funny. So soon after returning to the White House, President Carter was telling his staff, including his press secretary, Jody Powell, about his harrowing encounter. His staff weren't really buying that a cute little rabbit would swim into the water just to attack him. So he whipped out the photo that the White House photographer had ⁓ They still skeptical that this rabbit was trying to attack him. So he had the image zoomed in. And apparently that convinced them To give them credit, it does look like a very menacing rabbit. got an ass. The zoomed in picture kind of has like red eyes. It just looks scared. On his own, the White House resources to get that zoomed in back in the day. do you even do that? A couple of months later, Powell was chatting with Associated Press House correspondent Brooks Jackson, quote, over tea. Carter said it was actually quote in a bar after a lot of drinking had gone on. That's neither here nor there. She mentioned the bizarre story to him. The story had an embargo on it. Do you know what that is? It's a request or requirement from the source to not publish information until a certain date or conditions have been met. Interesting. But newspapers were actually able to get the embargo lifted because radio stations had already picked up the story. And on August 30th, 1979, the story was splashed across the front page, the front page of the Washington Post. This rabbit. Mm hmm. Yep. What? Not even the picture, just the story. Must have been a slow day. The article was titled Bunny Goes Bugs, Rabbit Attacks President. Complete with an illustrated parody of the famous Jaws movie poster and the caption paws It was a slow day right must have been New York Times got in on the action with an article titled a tale of Carter and the killer rabbit coverage on the story Continued for more than a week. my god slow week Although maybe not a slow week because the Carter administration refused to release the picture with deputy press secretary Rex Granham saying, quote, we're afraid if we've released the photo, the rabbit controversy the next two weeks will receive more ink than the salt treaty. The salt treaty is the strategic arms limitation talks, which were two conferences ⁓ between the U and the Soviet union about missiles. ⁓ And all the media wanted was that picture of the rabbit. is too funny. Not a slow week. we the people want the bunny. Screw the missile. Screw the missile. We want peace island. Because the original photo was being kept hidden, news cartoonists took matters into their own hands and drew illustrations exaggerating the story. ⁓ ⁓ The last thing I'll say about this is ⁓ if Jey can do his his editing magic We'll have the picture one of the pictures of the cartoons here for our YouTube listeners So the last thing I'll say about this, The Onion posted an article to commemorate Jimmy Carter after his death on December 9th, 2024, titled, 48-Year-Old Rabbit Finally Finishes the Job. And that is the rabbit scandal. That is a scandal indeed. All right. So my farmer's almanac today, if I did it correctly, should be April 16th. Hello, April 16th. We're getting the hang of this. Yeah, I figured out some stuff. Yeah, we're getting better at it. So today we have a pro a proverb better spared than ill spent. I don't know what that means, but it sounds good. That sounds like some mom advice from like back in the day. It does. know what I mean? Better spared than ill-spared. And there is a conjunction of Mercury and Neptune as well as conjunction of the moon and Saturn. And today is the best day to end projects, wash windows, destroy pets and weeds, and cut hay. So get out there. Cut your hay. Cut your hay. Clean your windows. Clean your windows. Get rid of your pests. At first I thought you said pets and I was like that's rude. When I first read it I thought it said pets. was like oh my. First given that day. So you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube @TwoToolsNoCluepodcast. You can find us on TikTok @TwoToolsNoClue. You can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/twotoolsnoclue. And you can email us with your topic ideas, your questions, your, your comments, your critiques, your story, your especially at twotoolsnocluepodcast@gmail.com. yeah. Do it. Do it up to hear from you. And as always, thank you so much for listening until next week. Friends. Bye guys. Bye.