Animals

Bunny Farming: Why Do People Farm Rabbits? Is It Cruel?

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To some, bunny farming may seem like a path to profit. In reality, raising rabbits for food is time-consuming, low-profit, and cruel.

Several years ago, I adopted two bunny brothers: Tofu and Tempeh Moon Bear. I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I took them in, but what has surprised me most is their colorful and distinct personalities. It’s been amazing to watch them come out of their shells.

Tempeh Moon Bear is fearless and mischievous. He’s always looking for new places to explore around the house. He has a big appetite, and his favorite food is banana.

Tofu is mild-mannered and low-key. He sometimes purrs when I pet him. (Bunnies purr by chattering their teeth.) Tofu likes to do “binkies” when it’s almost time to eat. (Binkies are an acrobatic jump-and-twist movement that rabbits do when they’re happy.)

Tofu and Tempeh Moon Bear have taught me that bunnies are sensitive and social creatures. Sadly, hundreds of millions of rabbits like them are killed each year for their fur and flesh on rabbit farms. Whether raising rabbits for meat, textiles, show, or research, many bunnies suffer a grim existence of exploitation. While bunny farming may seem like a potential means to turn a profit, it raises many ethical and logistical concerns.

Is a bunny a farm animal?

Some five thousand rabbit farms operate in the US today. While some bunnies live their lives as cherished family members in loving homes, others suffer difficult lives on farms where they are raised for their meat or coat.

Why raise rabbits for meat?

Some of the reasons people may consider farming rabbits for profit include:

  • Cost: Raising rabbits for meat typically requires fewer costs. In contrast to cows or sheep, rabbits require less feed and water, which can reduce expenses.
  • Space: Because rabbits are small animals, they may require less space than raising other animals often used for food.
  • Reproduction: The rapid rate of rabbit reproduction—with a gestation period of only 31 days—can quickly generate more “product.”

It’s important to note that these “pros” only benefit those raising the rabbits for profit. Rabbits need ample space and socialization to thrive, and they deserve a chance to live long, healthy lives. Few, if any, farms succeed in providing the freedom and stimulation essential to keeping rabbits healthy and content, and they suffer painful deaths in a largely unregulated part of the industry.

Cons of raising rabbits for meat

The cons of rabbit farming far outweigh any perceived benefit. For those considering farming rabbits for profit, some notable concerns related to raising bunnies for meat include:

  • Limited demand: Rabbits are the third-most popular pet in the US—right after dogs and cats. Most North Americans rarely consume rabbit meat. Instead, many people associate bunnies with friendly faces they see outdoors, or beloved companion animals. So the demand for rabbit meat is extremely minimal.
  • Significant time commitment: Raising rabbits requires a considerable time investment. Daily farming tasks include cleaning, feeding, watering, and more.
  • Limited earning potential: Because rabbits are small animals, their dead bodies yield little meat. This means that profit margins for rabbit farms are typically slim. Starting a rabbit farm will also require significant upfront and ongoing investment in specialized equipment and supplies. In short: the rabbits’ pain isn’t worth the profit.
  • Risk of disease: The risk of illness can cause further suffering for rabbits. When animals are raised in cramped quarters, disease has a tendency to spread quickly. And some rabbit diseases can spread to humans. For example, Tularemia is a disease that can infect rabbits and humans, spread by ticks and biting flies. This illness is also known as “rabbit fever” because it is often contracted in humans who handle infected rabbits. Tularemia can be fatal if it goes untreated.
  • Ethical concerns: Rabbits are social and curious individuals. Keeping them in small cages without proper time to hop, play, and socialize causes intense distress for these sensitive creatures. Farming operations use bunnies as commodities, and do not treat them in a way that reflects the complex physical, mental, and social needs of each unique rabbit.
  • Negative welfare implications: Farmed rabbits are kept in poor living conditions for the entirety of their too-short lives. Then they are sent to slaughter in a largely unregulated industry, where they are not even protected by regulations like the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.

What are fiber rabbits?

Fiber rabbits are specific breeds farmed for their fur. The fibers taken from rabbits’ coats can be used for various textiles, but the process is grueling for animals. Sometimes referred to by the products they produce, types of fiber rabbits include:

Wool rabbits

Angora rabbits are the breed most widely known for the use of their fur for wool. Angoras have fluffy, long fur. Sadly, the singular focus on their wool production when breeding has compromised other elements of their health. Rabbit welfare experts report that the harvesting of Angora fur is incredibly painful for rabbits. And Angoras often suffer from eye diseases and intestinal problems related to their excess fur.

Fur or pelt rabbits

Fur has plummeted in popularity in the fashion world in recent years. Still, many rabbits suffer and die for human use of their fur. Most rabbits raised for their fur spend their short lives trapped inside fur factory farms. They live in cramped cages and cannot express natural behaviors like hopping, grazing, and digging. These bunnies usually suffer death by electrocution or gassing, cruel methods used in order to protect their pelt from damage.

Exhibition rabbits

Exhibition rabbits are selectively bred for their appearance and adherence to breed standards. These rabbits travel to exhibitions where judges rate them based on characteristics such as body shape, fur quality, and coloration. People who show rabbits must invest considerable time in grooming and training their bunny to meet the judges’ expectations for the breed and overall condition of the rabbit. While the breeders and trainers who show rabbits may enjoy the recognition, the bunnies often suffer health problems caused by breeding specifically for a human aesthetic. Additionally, the bustling and chaotic atmosphere of many exhibition shows can be over-stimulating and stressful for rabbits.

Laboratory rabbits

Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 rabbits suffer in research and testing laboratories each year in the US alone. Researchers choose rabbits because of their mellow nature and the ease of handling and restraining bunnies. Many of these rabbits are used specifically to test the toxicity of various cosmetic and household products.

The most widely-known of these experiments is the Draize test for eye irritation. In these tests, countless rabbits have suffered the application of chemicals to their eyes to assess the damage, which can include inflammation, ulcers, bleeding, and other painful outcomes. Rabbits do not receive any pain relief amidst their suffering from these experiments, and once the experiment is complete, a new cycle begins or the rabbit is killed.

The results gathered from these tests are often unreliable, since rabbits are physiologically and anatomically different from humans. Nonetheless, rabbits continue to suffer unthinkable anguish.

What is cuniculture? What is a bunny farm?

Cuniculture is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising rabbits for their fur, flesh, or other uses. The more common, modern-day term for cuniculture is rabbit farming or bunny farming.

Extensive cuniculture practices

Extensive cuniculture is a more traditional and less structured approach to rabbit farming. In extensive cuniculture, rabbits typically graze for most of their food on larger tracts of land. The rabbits’ environments are more reflective of their natural habitat in the wild, and human intervention is minimal. But the end result of extensive cuniculture is the same: slaughtering rabbits for profit.

Intensive cuniculture practices

Intensive cuniculture is a more controlled approach to bunny farming. In intensive cuniculture systems, farmers keep bunnies in cages or other enclosures. This more structured housing environment is designed to protect rabbits from the elements, predators, and disease—but restricts rabbits’ ability to behave naturally. Rabbits in intensive cuniculture receive a carefully-curated diet to promote growth, and intensive cuncilture settings generally manage and monitor breeding more strictly.

Where do farmed rabbits live?

Rabbits raised on farms generally live in one of three environments.

  • Hutch: Whether indoors or outdoors, a hutch is a rabbit enclosure. In many rabbit farming operations, hutches are small wire cages. In these conditions, rabbits may suffer from the inability to move around naturally and can even develop a painful condition known as sore hocks as a result of having their sensitive feet constantly pressed against wire.
  • Nest box: A nesting box is the place where a pregnant rabbit will give birth to and nurse her babies. Farmers put nesting boxes in a secluded and quiet space and fill it with soft materials like hay or straw.
  • Outdoor enclosure: Some smaller rabbit farms may use a large enclosure to house multiple rabbits together. The enclosure may be constructed with wood, wire, or other materials, and may include a roof for predator protection.

What do farmed rabbits eat?

Rabbits need food and fresh water every day. Adult rabbits need to have constant access to water and a dried perennial grass called Timothy hay. For optimal health, bunnies also need leafy greens, such as romaine lettuce, and pellets for additional nutrition.

How do you protect rabbits from predators?

Rabbits trapped on bunny farms can easily fall victim to predators. Rabbits are prey animals, and many farms fail to establish thorough predator protection. Foxes, cats, and other animals can dig under, hop over, break through, or otherwise invade the rabbits’ enclosures. And because most farmed rabbits are confined to a cage, they are usually unable to escape any predators hunting them.

For these reasons, some rabbit welfare experts have expressed concern over keeping domesticated rabbits outdoors. Living outside exposes rabbits to predators, parasites, and severe weather. Because of their confinement, domesticated rabbits kept outdoors are unable to properly protect themselves from these threats.

Rabbit breeding and husbandry

Breeding can be harmful to rabbits—individually and collectively. When rabbits are bred for particular characteristics, such as weight or appearance, it often comes at the cost of their health and well-being. It’s important that breeders consider the overall health and well-being of individuals for a mating pair. Some of the tasks involved with breeding include maintaining detailed records, providing separate housing for breeding, nesting, and resting, and carefully monitoring health, including measured diets, exercise time, and veterinary visits. Breeding often leads to unwanted or unhealthy rabbits.

Kindling” refers to the birth of rabbit offspring, and rabbit babies are known as “kits.” Once farmers choose two rabbits to mate, they prepare for the babies’ arrival. Farmers provide nesting boxes and create housing conditions that may facilitate a smooth kindling process. Farmers fill the nesting box with soft bedding material, such as straw or hay, and place it in a quiet and secluded area of the rabbit's enclosure. In many cases, breeding rabbits leaves farmers feeling overwhelmed, with too many bunnies to care for, and contributes to rabbit overpopulation.

Kindling typically takes about fifteen minutes and occurs in the early morning hours. Once the kits have arrived, the mother nurses her babies once or twice a day, usually during the early morning or evening. Farmers try to keep the nesting area clean without disrupting behavior patterns. Kits tend to start eating solid food when they are about three weeks old. Farmers may introduce fresh greens and pellets into their diet at this time. By eight weeks of age, the bunnies are fully weaned from their mother’s milk.

Slaughter

Some rabbits are slaughtered for their flesh or fur at just 8-12 weeks old. In large farming operations, rabbits may be electrocuted or have their heads cut off with a knife at the time of slaughter. In smaller farming operations, farmers may kill bunnies by breaking their necks or taking a blunt object to their heads. Regardless of the method of killing, bunnies raised on farms suffer a terrifying end to their short lives on Earth.

Environmental impact of bunny farming

Producing rabbits for meat leaves a significant environmental footprint. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with rabbit meat are lower than beef, but similar to pork, and higher than chicken. Despite their small size, rabbits require surprising amounts of feed. Producing just one pound of rabbit meat requires three pounds of rabbit food.

The cost of bunny farms

The overall cost of raising rabbits for meat is relatively high—especially when sweet, gentle, curious bunnies are paying the ultimate price.

What does a meat rabbit cost?

The cost of farming an adult rabbit for food or fur is around 25-80 dollars. But it's important to remember that the cost to farmed rabbits is far higher. Farmed rabbits miss out on experiencing a lifetime of happy, healthy bunny behavior. They are treated only as products for the whole of their too-short lives. Many rabbits raised for meat are slaughtered when they are only about four pounds, at just about eight months of age.

How much can you get for rabbit meat?

Each farmed rabbit suffers life in unnatural conditions followed by a brutal death. And this happens just so rabbit farmers can realize only a narrow profit margin. After slaughter and dressing, rabbit meat sells for anywhere between 6 to 18 dollars per pound.

Regulations for bunny farms

Farmers must do extensive research and compliance work to ensure that they adhere to the regulations for rabbit farming. Because rabbits are not classified as livestock by the USDA, rabbits raised for food are largely exempt from any inspections at slaughter. However, under the Animal Welfare Act, any individual or business using rabbits must be registered or licensed with Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Bunny farming requires a great deal of time, effort, and resources from the farmer—and raises significant ethical concerns. After all, rabbits are intelligent animals that thrive with ample space to play and friends for companionship. The grim realities of rabbit farming deny bunnies of many of their basic needs. On rabbit farms, bunnies are used for profit, rather than valued for the sentient beings that they are.

What you can do

Rabbits are highly social and sensitive beings. Whether they’re raised for meat, textiles, show, or research, bunnies bred for human use suffer difficult and unnatural lives. Bunny farming typically yields small profits, requires excessive effort, and results in exploitation for countless innocent beings. Ready to make a difference? You can create a more compassionate world for rabbits by advocating to keep rabbits out of the farming industry—and off peoples’ plates.

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