Sadness over rabbits farmed for meat, fur

MANY readers would be shocked to learn that rabbits are being farmed for their fur and flesh, seemingly confined for hours on end in tiny hutches, unable to freely access grass, on a site in the English countryside.

Rabbit farm franchisers are vying to set up two further farms, in Buckinghamshire, and near Lyndon, in Rutland.

Animal Aid investigators visited an established site in Derbyshire and were saddened to discover rabbits in barren individual hutches, unable to socialise and with no free access to the outside.

The animals are seemingly prohibited from expressing their natural behaviours such as running, jumping, foraging, digging and socialising.

Lack of exercise and under-stimulation can be hugely emotionally and physically damaging for rabbits.

Some appeared listless and largely unresponsive to the presence of investigators.

This is very concerning in prey animals.

The farms are marketed as “freerange”, but many people would disagree.

The incarcerated female rabbits are treated as breeding machines, having litter after litter of babies that are taken from them.

I urge readers to visit our website to view the footage from our investigation and find out how they can oppose the plans.

They can do so here: animalaid.org.uk/stoprabbitfarms

Tor Bailey, Animal Aid