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About
Us...
LA Lions (pronounced "ell Ay", not "lah") is part of the rabbitry known as "LA Rabbits" located in Northwest Indiana which is operated by me, Lee Nevills, an ARBA Life Member. I have been raising rabbits since 1974. In 2007, LA Lions was established to work on the Lionhead breed in Chocolate and Tortoise (Black, Chocolate, Blue & Lilac), complimented by REW and Black. I also raise Holland Lops (LA Lops), Silver Fox (LA Foxes) and Mini Satins (LA Minis). My 7 year old son Tye raises Tans in Black & Chocolate, and Britannia Petites in many colors. At the 2009 NALRC Nat'l Lionhead Specialty Show, I won the coveted JoAnne Statler Memorial Breeders Challenge with my home-raised chocolate Lionhead buck, LA Lions Domencio Dolce'. Click here to read more about our 2009 Statler Memorial Breeders Class WIN! ~~**~~ When
I was a little girl growing up in Valparaiso, Indiana in the early
1970's, I had the great fortune to be given a Tennessee Walking
Horse for Christmas. I was SO EXCITED to become a
4-H Member
and to be
able to show my horse at the Porter County Fair. How exciting
to
have her housed there all week!! But,
as luck would have it, a stallion got loose and my horse got
pregnant. This caused an interesting dilemma
preventing me
from showing her
at the Fair due to the timing of the blessed event
So that I would still have an animal exhibit for Fair, my Dad suggested that I get a few rabbits to show. ***  Unbeknownst to me at that time, rabbit raising was a continuance of a family tradition dating back to my Great-Grandfather's rabbitry in Germany. When my Dad was a kid, he and my Grandpa raised meat rabbits as a way to economically feed the family just as Grandpa had done with his Dad in the "Old Country". Following the family tradition, I started out with a meat breed--New Zealands. My first ones did not have pedigrees, and were most likely not even purebred (I dimly recall the mother of the bunnies I picked out to be some sort of big dutch-marked brood doe). I just fell in love with the rabbits, and learned quickly about how to raise, breed and show actual pedigreed bunnies. Soon I developed an interest in several more breeds, such as Dutch, Harlequin, Havana and Standard Rex, to name a few. I joined the ARBA in 1978 along with my Mom, Carol L. Schneegas, and our ARBA show career began. ***  *** During our show career, I fell in love with and had to have nearly every breed of rabbit I saw, so we dabbled in so many different breeds--Californians, Palominos, Netherland Dwarfs, Florida Whites, all types of Lop, Silvers, Standard & Mini-Rex, and Dwarf Hotots, etc. We began seriously raising Holland Lops and Mini-Rex before they were even ARBA recognized breeds, which gives me stupendous hope for our beloved Lionheads. Soon after Holland Lops were recognized by the ARBA, I won Best in Show with my Holland Lop buck "Schneegas' Tom Thumb" several times. Between Mom & I, we had quite an impressive record of show winnings for BOB, BOS, BOV & BOSV in all the breeds we raised. We had numerous ARBA Registered Grand Champions and quite a few BEST IN SHOW wins in a variety of breeds including Havana, Florida White and Netherland Dwarf as well as the others mentioned here. The most memorable BEST IN SHOW winner was my black Silver doe named "Schneegas' Apollo". Amazingly enough, this doe won 3 BEST IN SHOWs which was pretty much unheard of for a SILVER!! *** Around this time, the local news did a story on me and my mom, and I wrote an article for "The Rabbit Gazette" about the Silver Rabbit. I also won a $1,000 Public Service Award for my work with the county 4-H rabbit program. I donated the $1,000 award to the 4-H Rabbit Project to put on seminars on rabbit raising for project members. To read these articles, Click HERE *** I became a 4-H Leader in the early 1990's, and was the Secretary-Treasurer for the National Silver Rabbit Club. I enjoyed the unmatched camaraderie of my fellow Silver breeders. I also worked toward my ARBA Registrar's License, but my career as a top sales agent in the insurance industry got in the way. Over the years, my passion for rabbit breeding never waivered, no matter what was happening in my personal life. I always kept at least a few rabbits, although I was not always able to be actively breeding and showing. I knew that there would come a day where I would be able to re-establish myself as a successful and respected rabbit breeder once again. My Mom retired from the rabbit habit in 1996 shortly before my Dad passed away. She still shares my love of the hobby, but will most likely never resume raising rabbits. ***  Me & son Tye at '08 ARBA Nat'l Convention *** After 35 years of hanging onto my ARBA membership, I am raising rabbits along with my son. I have accumulated a herd of Lionhead rabbits in several colors as well as a few black Mini-Rex . I also had blue Dutch, but made the hard decision to let them go for the time being. Someday, I would love to re-visit that breed again, along with the lovely Havana breed in all colors. I have sentimental wishes of expanding in the future to include a few breeds and varieties that I truly miss--the gentle Silver, and another couple personal favorites--tort Dutch and black silver marten Netherland Dwarf. ***  Tye with one of his bunnies *** These days, I am lucky to have the freedom to be a stay-at-home Mom to my 6 year old son Tye who brings me daily joy. He has a great willingness to learn about rabbits, and enjoys helping me feed, water and clean up after them. Tye has his own herd of show winning Tans and Brittania Petites which he has chosen as his personal favorite breeds. Even my other half of nearly a decade, Larry Nevills, has a few Silver Fox Rabbits that he decided I should raise for meat. When Tye came along, Larry ended a lifelong career of raising nationally recognized show quality ADBA Registered American Pit Bull Terriers. To him, raising rabbits is a far cry from raising game bred dogs, but he has taken an interest in the family rabbitry all the same. I love him so much for his support and patience (and cage building skills..hee hee). ***  "Nevills' Bullets Brick of Honey" *** In February, 2008, I made a concrete commitment to apply my attained knowledge of rabbit breeding and genetics to do my part to help the Lionhead breed progress into expanded color territory. I was approved by the ARBAStandards Committee to be the 5th current Certificate of Development holder for the Lionhead Breed in the varieties of Chocolate, Chocolate Tortoise, Lilac, Opal and Seal. In December, 2010, I subsequently dropped Lilac, Opal and Seal from my COD as I found that the quest for perfection in Lionhead color is more difficult than it seems, and I wanted to limit my focus to improve my herd. I do not advocate the proliferation of dozens of colors of Lionhead, and I feel that the task of presenting Lionheads to the ARBA Standards Committee is a resource consuming commitment not to be entered into lightly. ***  *** Chocolate has always been my favorite variety to work with throughout my rabbit raising career. I am using my attained knowledge and experience with other rabbit breeds to develop and perpetuate a uniform, true to type line of consistently high quality Lionheads within my chosen color spectrum. Having raised deep dark chocolate Havanas, my desire is to reproduce that same deep dark Chocolate in the Lionheads. Chocolate Tort can appear in the mix when two small "e" genes are present. While not nearly carrying the depth of color of a self, Chocolate Tort can be pretty stunning and vivid, in my opinion. ***  "LA Lions Kimlin" Chocolate tort buck *** I am a LIFE Member of the ARBA, and am also a member of NALRC (the North American Lionhead Rabbit Club). In 2010-2011, I was Secretary-Treasurer of the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club NSFRC and am currently Vice President of the Indiana Tan Rabbit Club. ***  Smoke Pearl, Siamese Sable & True Seal 3 day old kits *** Since I began my personal quest for the ideal Lionhead, I have met many dedicated breeders that have helped me to establish and improve my herd. Many have become valued friends without whom this hobby would not be as much fun. I extend a huge THANK YOU to those generous individuals to whom I owe the rapid advancement of my herd. Every day brings me closer to my goals for quality and uniformity of body type, long-lasting mane, and vivid true color. We sincerely look forward to the future of this exciting breed, and are glad to have our lives enriched by these lovable little Lionhead souls! ***  |
Lee A. Nevills bulletsink@msn.com
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