Many pet rabbits worse off than battery rabbits

Advertise with us
Love your rabbit
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
RWAF

RWAF

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
380
Reaction score
64
Location
, , United Kingdom
RWAF press release

http://www.pressdispensary.co.uk/releases/c992990/Many-Pet-Rabbits-Worse-Off-Than-Battery-Rabbits.php
Many Pet Rabbits Worse Off Than Battery Rabbits
2011-05-03
img_0817.jpg

A single rabbit lives alone in a small hutch
May 03, 2011, Press Dispensary. The British public has reacted with distaste to a recent spate of planning applications for battery rabbit meat farms*, where the animals are kept in tiny cages before being slaughtered for meat, but The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF - http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/ ) points out that thousands of domestic pet rabbits are kept in conditions that are as bad or even worse, than those proposed by the battery farms.

RWAF Chief Executive, Rae Todd, has this to say. “Many people have raised concerns over the planning applications for battery rabbit farms, with almost 1300 signatures being collected within 24 hours of a petition going live. Rabbit farms are outside of our charitable remit, but of course we hate to see any suffering in rabbits. There is however an ongoing, less obvious welfare problem facing domestic rabbits all over the UK: the countless pets living alone with no way to express their natural behaviours. We hope that when people think about the battery farming issue, that they also consider the suffering of solitary pet rabbits in cramped hutches.”
008.jpg

Thousands of pet rabbits live in hutches that are too small

Thousands of British pet rabbits spend their entire lives confined to hutches the same size , or smaller than, the DEFRA guidelines - which state that hutched meat rabbits should have a minimum space of 0.75m2. This equates to a hutch with a floor space of 4ft x 2ft, and as hutches this size or smaller are commonly available it will shock many rabbit owners to discover their own pet is in fact worse off than a battery rabbit.

“People need to decide for themselves whether to protest to their local council if they don’t want a rabbit battery farm in their locality,” said Rae Todd, “but The RWAF is encouraging people to take a look at their own rabbits’ accommodation, and to take quick action if the hutch is anything under 6 feet long, with an attached run of at least 8 feet. The RWAF website has great advice on creating the sort of accommodation that rabbits need to lead full and contented lives.”

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/ahutchisnotenough.htm
 
I'm sorry, but I find that total bull, at least the "pet rabbits being worse off then farm rabbits" part..

I'm sure there are many pet rabbits that are neglected and I agree that it is a terrible thing and in those cases, it is just as bad. But not every rabbit that is in a smaller cage is in a worse situation.

My rabbits do have smaller cage space, but they also get out for hours at a time for excersise, not to mention the rabbit hopping we do with them constantly. This provides plenty of companionship and mental stimulation from people, something I these rabbits will get. The meat rabbits will get larger cage space, yes, but how filthy will it get, because I doubt that they will be kept as clean as a pet rabbit. What will be placed in the cage for mental stimulation? What kind of food will be fed? There are too many variables that are not placed into this equation from either side.

Point is, I think anyone who neglects their rabbit will not be "shocked" to find out it is not in an ideal situation because they won't care.

I also do not agree that rabbits should have to live in groups. I mean, I have never seen any of the rabbits in our neighbourhood interacting with one another except for one pair that was fighting rather viciously until we chased them off. Every single one of my rabbits lives in a night cage on their own and never do they experience "high levels of stress". They are all happy, healthy animals. I have seen a lot of cases where bonded rabbits get along well, and that's great. But I have also seen cases where it doesn't, and it only results in heartache.

But hey, this is just my opinion. I just feel like a lot of this is more opinion then fact as well. Sure, they have a smaller cage, but considering that they take turns getting run of the house, I daresay that isn't "cruel".
 
I don't think it's bull, there are far more uneducated rabbit owners than there are enlightened ones. I know I never knew that rabbits could be so easily litter trained, or that they could be house pets like a cat or dog, and when I mention it to people they don't believe me. The pet store I bought Samson from also sold me a 30X20inch cage, not knowing I planned on using an xpen as well.
I'd imagine since it'll eventually be meat, and the skins are probably sold, that the health and cleanliness of each rabbit is as good as it can be.
Sad thing to think about though.
 
I never said that it is all bull because there is a lot there that I agree with, but there is just as much I disagree with, hence why I said it's pretty much both opinions.

Trust me, I am well aware how many uneducated rabbit owners there are, but implying that every rabbit that does not have a cage that size is mistreated is pretty out there. I think that is just jumping the gun a little. I'm not saying there aren't any like that because it would be silly, I know the majority are like that, but I think that not ALL of them are, is what I meant. You can make up for smaller cage space by increasing the amount of unlimited space time. That's all.
 
I agree there are a LOT of people with pet rabbits who keep them as "cage pets" in a tiny cage, occasionaly they might let it out and they rarly clean them. I am not talking about people here, people who come on sites like this actually care, thats WHY they are here, people who DO stuff with their rabbits, same thing. but we are in the minority, most people with pet rabbits do not do these things. consider also that those pet rabbits live a lot longer then those meat rabbits, pet rabbis may have to live many years in tiny cages, with little attention paid because hey, they are "cage pets" and people think of them like hamsters. these meat rabbits would have a larger cage them many pet rabbits and not be forced to live nearly as long in it.

and where the heck does the artical say "all" pet rabbits? it states "many" right in the title..which is true lol
 
The did quite a wide survey of rabbits in the UK recently, it produced lots of lovely statistics such as 10% of rabbits live in hutches they can only take 1-2 hops in and 19% of rabbits go outside their hutch less than once a day and 6% of owners thought their rabbits doesn't need to go outside hutch at all (in numbers that's around 100,000 rabbits).

I can't speak for the US, but here at least there are thousands of rabbits that are shut in 4' or even 3' hutches who maybe get allowed out every now and then or have a small run and that's it.. that is their whole life.

You're right other factors are important. It's great your rabbits get daily exercise and that you do hoping with them which is great mental stimulation as well as exercise but that is not really typical of the average owner. Another statistic - 62% of rabbits did not play with toys regularly.
 
I know many people whose rabbits live in a 2 foot square hutch (that includes sleeping area - some have no sleeping area, just a square open space on all sides). Wire floor to let the poop/pee through is as close as they get to cleaning. The mess just piles up under the hutch until the rain washes it away.
They often live alone. There is a food dish and a water bottle. No grass/veggies/hay to eat. Sometimes they DO have other bunnies for company. Unfortunately, that means 2, 3, or more bunnies living in the same small square. Again with nothing but a food/water dish.
I think that is most likely the norm among pet rabbits. Let's face it - the people of this forum are the exception, not the norm.
 
Those little hutches with the roof are very popular for pet rabbits here in the US. I do not think they should house a BIG rabbit but dwarf and small breeds are comfortable in it.

As for animal welfare, a rabbit that is well fed, well housed, and safe from predators is being take of.

They don't usually live more than three years in the wild. Many of them in the wild die before they are 6 months old. Rabbits are a significant portion of the food chain. Rabbits convert plant protein to animal protein then become a food source for everything higher up the food chain.

When we make a pet out of the rabbit, we are taking it out of the food chain and denying the reason it was created. (Creation can equal Evolution or God, your choice).

We are not letting the rabbit be the rabbit.

Any kind of housing is unnatural.

Have a good day!
 
Thanks for these responses, folks. I think that we largely agree that there is a great deal of room for improvement. While we here are informed, are interested and want to do the best for our rabbits, there are many more owners who need to be guided and educated into how to give their rabbits a much better life.

It's always helpful to measure our own standards against the worst we know of and the best..I'm sure that from time to time most of us will spot some way that we can improve things, and so it's relevant to post messages such as this on forums for rabbit lovers, even if only to provoke us to think long and hard, but also to remind us that we have the ability, the interest and the knowledge to be able to guide others.
 
Kipcha wrote:
I'm sorry, but I find that total bull, at least the "pet rabbits being worse off then farm rabbits" part..

I'm sure there are many pet rabbits that are neglected and I agree that it is a terrible thing and in those cases, it is just as bad. But not every rabbit that is in a smaller cage is in a worse situation.

My rabbits do have smaller cage space, but they also get out for hours at a time for excersise, not to mention the rabbit hopping we do with them constantly. This provides plenty of companionship and mental stimulation from people, something I these rabbits will get. The meat rabbits will get larger cage space, yes, but how filthy will it get, because I doubt that they will be kept as clean as a pet rabbit. What will be placed in the cage for mental stimulation? What kind of food will be fed? There are too many variables that are not placed into this equation from either side.
Click to expand...
I agree that out-of-cage time and human interaction are the key to your bunnies happiness. Unfortunately, the vast majority of pet rabbits get neither of those. They live in tiny square and only see people at feeding time.

It's no different than people who chain their dogs in the yard and only come out once every couple of days to give them food and water.
My neighbor has an outside dog - a cocker that lives in HUGE outdoor pen. His only human contact is someone filling his food/water which is about once a week. They use the large automatic "vacation" feeders so that they don't have to feed him but that often.
 
When I was a kid my mother bought us a rabbit - it lived inside for a few days and she said it smelled and so built it an outside hutch. I was about 5? so I didn't know any better, but it was pretty small. And there was no outside playpen for it. Eventually fire ants started to infest the hutch and they did put baits etc out to try to stop it, but the little bunny ended up with ants in its fur, which is when my parents decided to get rid of it rather than bringing it back in.

Now, for the area, that was _normal_ treatment for rabbits. The hutches that the people we got the rabbit for were outside and now that I can look at it through more than a 5 year olds "oh what cute bunnies" viewpoint - so small that the rabbits could hardly move. A lot of people out there also turned loose their rabbits after they no longer wanted to put up with caring for it.

Now that I am an adult and can care for my own pets - my bun has full run of my house. He gets out when I get up. He has a large cage, which is about to get expanded today. His toys are scattered all over my living room - so is his hay and I don't care, it's his house too!

But sadly a lot of rabbits still live the way my parents had our rabbit living. I was looking in the pet store for cages and they were all soooo tiny! I wouldn't even put a rat in them, let alone a rabbit. And a lot of the rabbits bought from them don't get outside time to play once the kid grows bored, or the parents see the bunny mark their carpet.

Now, is that worse than a battery farm? Hm. I guess that depend on exactly how the farms treat the rabbits, but most "meat animals" live in pretty deplorable conditions, at least over here.
 
dainerra wrote:
http://www.bassequipment.com/Home/Rabbit+Cages/default.aspx

those are the hutches I'm talking about. If they are lucky, the owner puts a lean-to roof or a tarp over the top to keep out the rain. Otherwise, the poor bunny lives his whole life in the rain.
Click to expand...

Apart from any other consideration, those are tiny. By UK law, meat rabbits have to have more space than that. The DEFRA regulations state they must have 0.56m2 floor space. To achieve that, if my calculations are correct, the cage would need to be around 75cm (30 inches) along each side. That would be MINIMUM for meat rabbits living singly, according to the (UK) law.

Abhorent as it is to consider rabbits being farmed for meat at all, surely we ought to expect that pet rabbits should be kept in far better conditions, not worse.
 
RWAF wrote:


Apart from any other consideration, those are tiny. By UK law, meat rabbits have to have more space than that. The DEFRA regulations state they must have 0.56m2 floor space. To achieve that, if my calculations are correct, the cage would need to be around 75cm (30 inches) along each side. That would be MINIMUM for meat rabbits living singly, according to the (UK) law.

Abhorent as it is to consider rabbits being farmed for meat at all, surely we ought to expect that pet rabbits should be kept in far better conditions, not worse.
Click to expand...
I agree completely. Now imagine 2 or 3 bunnies living in that cage....
As I said, that is the expected norm for how bunnies should live, at least among a lot of people. So, yeah, I can see where the farmed rabbits might actually have better living conditions. After all, most pet bunnies don't get cleaned up after either.
 
Do the laws in UK pertain to adult rabbits only?

Because if a female has a litter of l0 then they would suddenly require a cage 10 times bigger wouldn't it?

Just wondering.

Normally adult rabbits at farms and breeding for the fancy are kept one per cage to prevent fights. This would be practice in USA and most other countries that have rabbit farms.

Have a good day!




edited to conform to our non-meat discussion policy.
 
the UK is more advanced then the US when it comes to animal housing size requirments, a vast majority of pet rabbits in NA could only dream of living in a 4 foot long cage, most pet rabbit cages here are maybe 1.5 to 2 feet in length and about 1 foot wide, the cages sit in the basement or in some out of the way little corner, and the rabbit MIGHT get let out once in a while if they are lucky.
 
I don't know if UK is more advanced since their space requirements only pertain to rabbit farms not to pet rabbits.

I expect their pet cages are like the pictures linked above or like the ones sold in pet stores.

I agree the little cages sold in Petsmart or other pet stores that are 18 inch wide by 12 inch deep by 12 inch high are inadequate for most rabbit breeds.

Many US rabbit breeders use cages that are 30 inch by 36 inch or 24 by 30 inch for their adult rabbits. Some will try to save space by using 24 by 24 inch but that would only be adequate for the smallest breeds.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm trying to look objectively at the facts.

There is also a strong movement among rabbit farmers to keep their rabbits in "tractors" which are moveable pens that provide more room to run and allow rabbits to graze on grass. Very similar to the "pasture raised" chicken and egg production.

Some examples:
http://www.weathertopfarm.com/id69.html

http://www.weathertopfarm.com/id70.html

Or this French website has a lot of pictures of a pastured rabbit operation. Very interesting. The photos are largely self-explanatory, but if you'd like to read an English translation, try Google's Language Tools.
http://www.cuniculture.info/Docs/Phototheque/Materiel07.htm

There is more than one way to keep a rabbit.

Have a good day!

 
I know a few local people who raise rabbits for meat. They use the cages that I posted as well.
Not to say that some of the bigger farms aren't different, just that this is the experience I have with local farmers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top