End the Cage Age For Rabbits

Preitler said:

My viewpoint may be different since I have both, pet and meat rabbits.

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Yep. Totally different.

orangediva said:

Yep. Totally different.

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Thank you for just saying that, and not rendering my point invalid.

Do what you think is best for your pets, but let farmers do what is good for their lifestock. They are not, per se, bad people. Interfering can make things worse, like that rabbit meat is just shipped from china - problem solved?

Here, much of the local meat production goes to dialysis patients, who have trouble with other meats.

Excellent news,get rid of cruel intensive farming for all animals.

kattymieoww said:

Excellent news,get rid of cruel intensive farming for all animals.

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Well, almost right.

You may have not noticed that cages have nothing to do with that.

So, what's your second to none alternative to that so called cruel extensive farming?

As a side note, the death and mutilation rate among free range chicken is so high, it's sickening. But well, we feel good. That loss is covered by the more expensive free range eggs, that's a deal. We pay for it, so it's great.

kattymieoww said:

Excellent news,get rid of cruel intensive farming for all animals.

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:thumb:

You know, heading for something unrealistic makes no sense?

I stop posting here, makes no sense, those who are not thinking will continue, goood bye.

From that argument it seems that cages are better for the farmer than the rabbis. It's more convenient. They can be kept separate but still see each other and have a decent life, such as large cages, attached to runs outdoors, and the cages being far enough apart that they can't injure each other. But that would be inconvenient, more time taken to check their health and cages, more time to clean out, more expense and more space required to do it in a fashion that would show the farmers actually care about the rabbits. But is a bad idea, why? Because it's inconvenient and less profitable. If farmers want to farm animals for meat or by products, fine. But at least give them a decent life before slaughter.

Rabbitches said:

From that argument it seems that cages are better for the farmer than the rabbis. It's more convenient. They can be kept separate but still see each other and have a decent life, such as large cages, attached to runs outdoors, and the cages being far enough apart that they can't injure each other. But that would be inconvenient, more time taken to check their health and cages, more time to clean out, more expense and more space required to do it in a fashion that would show the farmers actually care about the rabbits. But is a bad idea, why? Because it's inconvenient and less profitable. If farmers want to farm animals for meat or by products, fine. But at least give them a decent life before slaughter.

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This exactly! :thumb:

I got a reply and he had had over 4,000 emails about that subject:

Dear constituent,
Thank you for your email concerning today’s vote on Minimum Standards for the Protection of Farm Rabbits. Please accept my sincere apologies for the impersonal address of this email - in the past few days alone I have received over 4,000 emails on this issue.
I completely agree with you that the poor standards for rabbit farming are nothing short of abhorrent. Rabbits are the second most farmed species in the EU with over 340 million being slaughtered annually. The vast majority of them are kept in barren wire cages where their natural behaviour is severely restricted.
These conditions neglect Council Directive 98/58 on the protection of animals kept for farming purposes which calls on all owners and keepers of animals 'to take all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of animals under their care and to ensure that those animals are not caused any unnecessary pain, suffering or injury'.
Harmonised minimum standards for rabbit welfare would help to combat animal suffering and that’s why I voted in favour of this report which was successfully passed by 410 votes in favour with 205 MEPs voting against and 59 abstaining.
Many scientists have stressed that the cage system should be urgently replaced by one which allows for the natural needs of rabbits to be better taken into account. As Greens, we too support replacing the outdated battery cages with the 'park' system.
The current system leads to the spread of disease and the subsequent overuse of antibiotics. Greens have always opposed factory farming and we will continue working for the highest possible standards of animal welfare - which is one of my main priorities as your MEP.
We also support species-specific legislation, as recommended by the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), to address the serious welfare implications of current production methods. I therefore co-sponsored an amendment to this report calling for concrete legislation that would ban the use of cages and am delighted that this passed by 356 votes in favour.
Today’s positive outcome serves to highlight the key role the EU membership has played and continues to play in raising the welfare of millions of farm animals in Britain and across the EU. Not least because animal advocates across the UK have done an excellent job of putting pressure on their MEPs to support this report.
However, we must continue lobbying the UK government to ensure the current legal protections, for all species, offered by European Union membership are maintained and strengthened. I believe the closer the relationship the UK maintains with the EU - retaining animal welfare and wildlife protections through single market membership - the better the outcome for British animals.
If you are interested in finding out more about my work on animal rights, please do have a look on my website: http://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/category/animal-rights/. I also release a regular newsletter on animal welfare called ‘Making Tracks’, alongside my fellow UK Green MEPs, Jean Lambert and Molly Scott Cato, so do let me know if you would like to sign-up to it.
Thank you again for your email, Please do not hesitate to get back in touch if you have any further concerns or questions at EU level.
With best wishes,
Keith Taylor

Green Party MEP for South East England
The European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
1047 Brussels, Belgium

I could no more contemplate eating rabbit than dog,cat,hamster etc.Higher welfare conditions should be law for all farmed animals.

Keith Taylor... Sent me the same email! :thumb:

Of the five or six MEPs the email went to Keith Taylor (Green Party) was the only one who bothered to reply [emoji35]