#rabbit welfare

[chamomile-and-cotton]

Repost from Fat Fluffs Rabbit Rescue:

“Rabbit Farms 🐰

There has been a lot on social media recently about potential rabbit farms in the UK. As a rabbit rescue it goes without saying what our thoughts are.

Large scale rabbit farms are notorious for having awful welfare standards. There is little to no regard for the recognised needs of a rabbit, such as companionship, space and ability to display natural behaviours. The current legislation in the UK for meat rabbits is a cage with a floor area of only 0.56m2! They are often kept in bare wire bottomed cages, often taken away from their mothers far too young, and usually killed at 8-12 weeks. Breeding rabbits are kept for up to 3 years, producing 5-8 litters per year. Rabbits, along with battery hens, are by far the worst treated in an already brutal industry. In the UK, rabbit farming is generally small scale as the demand for rabbit meat is minimal and is often filled by hunters who hunt wild rabbits. It seems more likely that these potential large scale farms are claiming to be meat farms to exploit the loophole of being able to sell rabbit fur as a by-product (fur farming has been banned in the UK since 2003).

Today we wanted to put a face to this issue. This Big Flo. If you have followed us for a while you will probably recognise her - this charismatic queen is always happy to pose for a photo! Flo was found at a farm breeding both puppies and meat rabbits. She is a New Zealand White rabbit, which is the most common breed farmed for meat. This bunny is confident, friendly, happy, cheeky and intelligent. She deserves a happy life with people who love and take care of her. At the very least she deserves a chance to be a rabbit - to run and jump and dig and binky, rather than spending a short, miserable life in a tiny cage before being slaughtered. To help bunnies like Big Flo, keep supporting groups such as the The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund as they continually fight to improve the lives of rabbits. 🐰”

Fat Fluffs Rabbit Rescue website are based in Hampton in Arden in the West Midlands and give unwanted rabbits a safe place to recuperate be

[rabbitrescueruk]

[usagi-zakura]

Based on a facebook-post I came across... characters are made ruder for comedic effect. XD  Please note I am all for getting your pets spayed and neutered, as well as giving them an ID. Bubble-man isn’t actually in the wrong in this instance, just a bit overprotective of his pet, which isn’t a bad thing honestly...

I just thought it was kinda weird how a group that advocates letting every single rabbit go through an invasive surgery, but tattoos were called barbaric. :p  Before someone says “but microchips”, yes, Jason is microchipped. But not everyone checks for a microchip in rabbits so he was given a tattoo as well. Its not enough to actually ID him, but it lets people know “hey, I’m chipped, please scan me and you will get my owner’s address!” (He is also neutered. Fairly certain the chip and tattoo were both done while he was under anaesthesia so he would not have noticed at all.)

Tattooing rabbits isn’t like tattooing humans. It takes only a second and consists of someone filling a rabbit’s ear with ink and then using a clamp to make the tattoo itself. Does it hurt? Probably. But that pain passes quickly, and there’s no risk associated with the procedure. 

Show-rabbits in Norway actually have to be tattooed, after all show-rabbits of the same breed and color look almost identical, so the breeder needs a way to tell them apart. 

Feral cats even sometimes get their ears cut so people will know they have been spayed and neutered. (I belive this is what happens to the feral cats at Disneyland... That way if they see a cat with an intact ear they know to catch it and get it neutered, so it doesn’t fill up the place with unwanted kittens.) 

[bertiebun]

Comfy loaves of bread 🍞

[boylespethousing-blog]

10x4x6ft Rabbit Kennel and Run - Boyle's Pet Housing

A 12x4x6ft Rabbit Kennel with run handmade in the UK by Boyle's Pet Housing. These kennels are quality and made to last.

Rabbit Kennels are great secure space for your Buns

Handmade with many extras you can personalise it yourself.

[boylespethousing-blog]

How good does this ramp leading upto  a bunny shelf. In one of our Rabbit Sheds!

Handmade By Boyles Pet Housing.

www.boylespethousing.co.uk

email: [email protected] 

[boylespethousing-blog]

Indoor Rabbit Pen one of the Largest we have made 

[princess-peachie]

Charity slams Britain for rabbit neglect - Yareah Magazine

A leading rabbit welfare charity has hit out at our claim to be a nation of pet lovers suggesting there is an “acceptable neglect” of rabbits in the UK. In the run up to this year’s Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), Rae Todd from the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) says thousands of “pet rabbits …

“In the run up to this year’s Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), Rae Todd from the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) says thousands of “pet rabbits have become “nothing more than garden ghosts” after suffering cruel neglect at the hands of their owners.”

“We think we’re a nation of pet lovers but we’re not,” she says. “It’s about time we dropped that label and aimed at being a nation of good pet owners.”

According to RWAF figures some 67,000 rabbits are dumped in rescue centres, either due to regretted impulse purchases, the cost of vaccination and neutering or behavioural issues, and end up leading lonely lives.

“When we see a solitary rabbit in a hutch in our neighbour’s garden, most of us don’t bat an eye lid. It has become an acceptable neglect,” adds Rae. “Even though it’s been scientifically proven that it’s cruel to keep rabbits in this way, they have become nothing more than discarded fluffy toys.””