Rabbits do not belong in cages
When plans for an intensive UK rabbit farm application came to light in April 2011, public outrage and pressure resulted in one very unpopular farmer changing his mind. Compassion’s concerns for such a backward step in farming aren’t undue, as the trend for rabbit meat is increasing.
© Dmitriy Shironosov
Compassion believes that if rabbits, or indeed any animals, are to be farmed then we have a responsibility to ensure that they are kept in humane farming systems
Supermarkets have reported an increase in sales of rabbit meat, with Britons eating around 8,000 tonnes each year – 5,000 tonnes of which is imported from around the world. Some believe this trend is down to celebrity chefs endorsing rabbit meat as a lean and healthy option.
Although chefs refer to rabbit as game (wild rabbits that have been hunted), most of the rabbit meat found in the UK’s supermarkets is imported from rabbit farms in Europe. France and Italy produce the greatest amount of rabbit meat, with the vast majority of the rabbit farms using appalling battery-cage systems which fail to meet the basic needs of rabbits.
Rabbits are highly active creatures. They are prey for many wild animals, so have strong instincts to hop, run, rear up with their ears pointed, forage, burrow and play. They live in complex family hierarchies. They require plenty of outdoor space in which to fulfil their natural behaviours.
By comparison, intensively farmed rabbits are confined in small cramped cages, shockingly similar to the soon-to-be-outlawed barren cages used to house laying hens.
High-fibre forage such as grass or hay should be available at all times. Barren, restrictive environments and lack of hay can lead to rabbits developing abnormal stereotypical behaviours, such as excessive grooming and repetitive gnawing at the cage. Our information shows that in intensive systems, rabbits can be so starved of any stimulation, such as hay to nibble and places in which to burrow, that out of sheer frustration they eat each others’ ears.
So you can imagine Compassion’s concern earlier this year when we discovered a British farmer had lodged applications for at least six intensive rabbit farms across England.
Following a public outcry and media exposés, including interviews with Compassion, the farmer in question was forced to rethink his original plans and consider higher welfare alternatives. He has since announced that he has plans to farm rabbits in outdoor paddocks.
It's time for us to be banning cages and confinement systems for all animals, not introducing more of them.
As Compassion's Joyce D'Silva said on Radio 4's 'You and Yours' programme, the plans for rabbit factory farms "stink".
Such a quick reversal is evidence of how powerful public pressure can be. In his own words during a radio interview, the rabbit farms will be “as free-range as practically possible”.
Compassion believes that if rabbits, or indeed any animals, are to be farmed, then we have a responsibility to ensure that they are kept in humane farming systems. They must be allowed to live a life free from pain and mental distress, and be able to express their natural behaviours. Keeping thousands of rabbits in small, barren cages is completely unacceptable. It’s time for us to be banning these cruel systems, not to be introducing more of them.