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WHY is culling allowed?

A

Azraelm

Wise Old Thumper
Just wondering why breeders are legally allowed to kill their 'stock' by breaking their necks/hitting them over the head?

If I was to say I'd killed Rowan or Audrey by breaking their necks Id be getting a visit from the RSPCA...so how can breeders get away with it?

Im not talking about breeding rabbits commercially for food or their fur, but just typical ones eg) small scale show breeder, like the one Nicola rescues rexes from.

I have a book at work which shows methods of neck breaking so I take it from that it actually is legal rather than something that 'just goes on behind closed doors'.

Why dont they have to get a vet to euthanize them?
 
I'm not sure how wide spread culling by killing actually is. You tend to hear of it but not the hundreds that don't do it. Culling just means removing a rabbit from the breeding lines, most breeders do this by selling unwanted offspring/stock e.g. to a petshop or through small ads.

I'm not entirely sure of the exact legal points regarding it but you'd definately need to do it without causing suffering. E.g. breaking the neck cleanly - I'm fairly sure that must be legal as I think it is for slaughter for food?

Getting a vet to euthanise them is expensive.

Tam
 
So...it could be legally ok for someone to kill their pet themselves as long as they did it 'humanely'? :?
 
But when the greyhounds were found to be shot rather than pts humanely there was a public outcry. Why not for rabbits? He's not killing them for food, I'd have less issue if he was - I'm not saying that's right but morally it's better than killing them because they're of no use to him anymore.

('him' refers to any breeder who kills stock, not a particular one)

Surely there should be some law if there isn't already to prevent this exploitation of any animal although I guess they'd have to somehow distinguish between domestic animals and farming animals where culling goes on all the time.
 
hummm, I'm not entirely sure, I can't remember if the animal welfare bill brought it up
 
It is purely because it is done behind closed doors and is not (supposedly) widely known other than in breeding circles and yes they would be in trouble off the rspca but who is goign to know when they do it?? so how can they be done??
 
A friend of mine worked at a farm park which had a pet shop incorporated in it. The farm park did handling baby animals for the children, however, despite having a pet shop they used to bang hundreds of rabbits, guinea pigs and rats on the head. They simply had no control over what animals were breeding and the rabbits were having litter after litter. It sickened me because it is so unneccessary.I have witnessed a piglet banged on the head at a commercial pig unit and it is a very quick death but it isn't something that should be done as a matter of routine. This particular piglet was the runt and was in respiratory distress and the farmer was incredibly experienced and passionate about pig welfare. If an animal is shot correctly it is in fact as humane as using drugs, and is usually quicker.
 
I have just been chatting to Christobel (Vet) about this. Apparently a Vet or the legal owner of an animal can cull it providing it is done humanely. So it has to be prooven that the animal SUFFERED. The 'correct method' for 'necking' is apparently 'pain free and instantaneous'
It is a grey area but it looks like ANYONE can kill their pet as long as they know how to 'neck'........
And how would you PROOVE that the animal suffered once they are dead if you were not there.

I am SHOCKED, ANGRY AND SAD.......

Janex
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I have just been chatting to Christobel (Vet) about this. Apparently a Vet or the legal owner of an animal can cull it providing it is done humanely. So it has to be prooven that the animal SUFFERED. The 'correct method' for 'necking' is apparently 'pain free and instantaneous'
It is a grey area but it looks like ANYONE can kill their pet as long as they know how to 'neck'........
And how would you PROOVE that the animal suffered once they are dead if you were not there.

I am SHOCKED, ANGRY AND SAD.......

Janex
Click to expand...

OMG! :shock: :evil: :shock: is it really true that anyone is allowed to kill an animal provided they know how to 'neck' it??? :shock: :shock: :shock:

SURELY something can be done to stop this barbaric practice? :cry: :cry:
 
I think the greyhound scandal only came to light because they were all being disposed of and buried at the same place. As Tamsin has said, there is no way of knowing how many times culling of rabbits takes place. I wonder what the RWF stance is on it. Does anyone know?
 
It is utterly disgusting....I dont see how they can ever be sure of killing them humanely/outright every single time.
 
why is culling allowed

I think this "grey" area should be stopped :( :evil: I know of a breeder who lives near me who openly culls her no-longer-wanted past their sell by date bunnies :shock: :evil: I was at her house once when one of her does had just give birth & scattered her litter :( instinctively i started to gather fur & make a little nest for the babies (several were still warm) the chilled ones i put up my top so my body warmth would warm them up (the breeder did nothing)when the little chilled ones started to revive & started to wriggle she took them from me & said she would put them back with mum :) but later when i checked them i found the babies i thought that i had saved had been dumped in a dish with other dead little ones :( they were DEAD :evil: how sick can you get :evil:
 
I think it is barbaric.

The chap I take the rabbits in from has a totally 'throw away' attitude.

He breeds rabbits for showing and is heavily involved in it. He even breeds rabbits and when the babies are born selects the babies he wants and kills the rest.

He doesn't ever, and will never, take any of his rabbits to the vets when they are ill. He says vets are too expensive and are a waste of time so the rabbits are either left to suffer or receive a chop to the neck.

The rabbits have no quality of life at all. They are just show pieces or baby machines. They are shut in tiny hutches, piled high inside a breeders shed. There is hardly any light in the shed and some parts of the shed are pitch black, you wouldn't know that a bunny was there. They have no bedding, no exercise and no affection.

Meg, the bunny Jane has recently taken in from me, was living in a corner of the shed where there was no light. She was in the bottom row of a line of tiny hutches. You had to bend down to the floor and peer inside the hutch and you could just make out the shadow of a bunny. The dear little girl was extremely overweight when I took her in, had very sore feet and was very scared.

I hate to think of all the bunnies that must have met their fate by now, bunnies I was unable to take as I can only take so many. The person in question kills rabbits of all ages, some babies, some only a few months old, others a couple of years old.

He says he has limited space in his shed so they have to be got rid of to make way for new youngsters.

Most of the breeders I am aware of use the term 'culling' when they mean killing unwanted rabbits. The reason why they cull is because 1-they can't be bothered to rehome the rabbits, 2- They do not want to rehome their unwanted stock as many of them are in a poor state, which in turn is going to give themselves a bad name, especially in breeding circles. 3-It is easier to clear room in the shed by simply 'culling' a few-that gives immediate space with no hassle involved.

Many of the breeders I am aware of have a 'throw away' attitude to their rabbits. All they're interested in is whether their buns have the correct banding, whether their ears sit in the correct manner and if they meet all the criteria given by the BRC. Many of them don't see them as pets like you and I. The chap I deal with tells me 'you have to be brutal in this game, if they're no good you just chop 'em'.

Sadly this goes on all over the country behind closed doors. If you were to visit a website geared up for breeders you would see they have a totally different attitude to rabbits than many of us do.

Nic and Harvey xxx
 
Nicola3 said:
I think it is barbaric.

The chap I take the rabbits in from has a totally 'throw away' attitude.

He breeds rabbits for showing and is heavily involved in it. He even breeds rabbits and when the babies are born selects the babies he wants and kills the rest.

He doesn't ever, and will never, take any of his rabbits to the vets when they are ill. He says vets are too expensive and are a waste of time so the rabbits are either left to suffer or receive a chop to the neck.

The rabbits have no quality of life at all. They are just show pieces or baby machines. They are shut in tiny hutches, piled high inside a breeders shed. There is hardly any light in the shed and some parts of the shed are pitch black, you wouldn't know that a bunny was there. They have no bedding, no exercise and no affection.

Meg, the bunny Jane has recently taken in from me, was living in a corner of the shed where there was no light. She was in the bottom row of a line of tiny hutches. You had to bend down to the floor and peer inside the hutch and you could just make out the shadow of a bunny. The dear little girl was extremely overweight when I took her in, had very sore feet and was very scared.

I hate to think of all the bunnies that must have met their fate by now, bunnies I was unable to take as I can only take so many. The person in question kills rabbits of all ages, some babies, some only a few months old, others a couple of years old.

He says he has limited space in his shed so they have to be got rid of to make way for new youngsters.

Most of the breeders I am aware of use the term 'culling' when they mean killing unwanted rabbits. The reason why they cull is because 1-they can't be bothered to rehome the rabbits, 2- They do not want to rehome their unwanted stock as many of them are in a poor state, which in turn is going to give themselves a bad name, especially in breeding circles. 3-It is easier to clear room in the shed by simply 'culling' a few-that gives immediate space with no hassle involved.

Many of the breeders I am aware of have a 'throw away' attitude to their rabbits. All they're interested in is whether their buns have the correct banding, whether their ears sit in the correct manner and if they meet all the criteria given by the BRC. Many of them don't see them as pets like you and I. The chap I deal with tells me 'you have to be brutal in this game, if they're no good you just chop 'em'.

Sadly this goes on all over the country behind closed doors. If you were to visit a website geared up for breeders you would see they have a totally different attitude to rabbits than many of us do.

Nic and Harvey xxx
Click to expand...

I had a conversation with one yesterday. Culling to them is the same as tidying out a kitchen cupboard to me and thee

Dont much like this world at the mo'........

Janex
 
Considering the amount of cases of deliberate cruelty, neglect and suffering towards rabbits by pet owners in the UK, I suppose that culling by neck breaking is probably the most humane method you are going to get, short of euthanasia which is more costly. So I can see why breeders choose this method. Not that I am saying they are right in doing so. I don't understand why anyone would want to breed rabbits if they didn't care for them at all. I personally feel that breeders should be held more accountable for the animals they produce and this accountability shoud be to ensure their health and wellbeing and continued existance if they are no longer needed by selling/rehoming appropriately.


It seems to me that the BRC needs to take a lead role in toughening up on these kind of welfare issues. It's a pie in the sky idea, but if the BRC were to set acceptable welfare standards before allowing show breeders to exhibit, and ensure that breeders who do the show circuit were registered and monitored for welfare (by a network of home visitors across the UK), then it might help to deter this kind of practice. I'd be interested to know if this kind of practice is as prevalent in the dog and cat showing circles. I expect it may well be.
 
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