Run Rabbit!
Are some people totally stupid or just plain cruel! I’ve recently heard about the planning applications that have been made to bring battery farms for rabbits back to Britain for the first time in over 15 years!
Intensive rabbit farming hasn’t been around since the 1990’s but it seems our taste for rabbit meat is growing, fuelled by its popularity with celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Nigella Lawson. It’s been reported, for example that earlier this year Waitrose claimed a 350% rise in sales of rabbit meat.
Although a fan of the culinary merits of rabbit meat, Fearnley-Whittingstall – in response to news of the proposed farms - reportedly said: “Farmed rabbit is not something that interests me, either personally or professionally. I would also worry about their welfare.”
At least 6 planning application have been lodged for these factory farms which will see the animals confined to metre-long wire cages stacked three high where they will be kept for 12 weeks, before being sent off to be slaughtered.
Michele Danan, at the campaigners Compassion in World Farming, said: “It’s time for us to be banning these cruel systems, not to be introducing them. I don’t think that the public will be in favour when they learn that this friendly and inquisitive animal, regarded by many as … furry pets, is going to be deprived of their basic rights – to be free from pain or mental suffering.”
She said that the cages were too small to allow the rabbits to move around normally by hopping or running & that the bare wire floors, would result in painful sores on their footpads & hocks. Lack of stimulation could lead to excessive grooming & even cannibalism.
“Our information shows that in these intensive systems, rabbits can be so starved of any stimulation, that out of sheer frustration they eat each others’ ears – not an image many of us would want to have in our heads when eating a stew or wearing an angora jumper,” she said.
The RSPCA also expressed concerns for the welfare of the animals & issued a statement saying: “We believe that all rabbits should be kept in well-managed higher welfare systems that allow them to behave normally and better meet their physical needs.”
The developer who submitted the applications - Philip Kerry of T&S Nurseries – claimed that the farms would be “very green and very sustainable”. He said: “The environment will be light and airy, with lots of space in there, and the cages are 18% bigger than required [by law]. And we hope to retire the does after four to five years and give them away as pets, if there is the demand.”
How on earth can anyone think this is ok! I modify what I said at the start - delete stupid. What he means is that it’s going to make him loads of money!
Let’s hope the planning applications are refused! After all there’s been a move away from factory farming of chickens – people prefer free range - so it would be a backward step to reintroduce something so undesirable that no longer exists.
