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Many pet rabbits worse off than battery rabbits

RosRWAF

Warren Scout
RWAF press release

http://www.pressdispensary.co.uk/re...et-Rabbits-Worse-Off-Than-Battery-Rabbits.php
Many Pet Rabbits Worse Off Than Battery Rabbits
2011-05-03
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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 - 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.”
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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.”

www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/ahutchisnotenough.htm
 
I'm not sure this is sending the right message out really. :? I think it's good to raise awareness of pet rabbits' accommodation needs, but the way this release is worded could be construed as saying that it's okay for battery farmed rabbits to be kept in 4ft cages but not okay for pet rabbits or that pet rabbits are often in a worse situation than battery farmed rabbits? I'm sure that isn't RWAF's intention, but its the way it came across to me. Particularly considering RWAF's neutral stance on battery farmed rabbits, the mesage seems somewhat muddled. :?
 
We don't have the power to change how people keep their own animals but we can try and stop this.

And as for the welfare of my bunnies then my conscience is clear.
 
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