Holly Spindler
Many people think of rabbits as soft, gentle family pets. But what is life like for rabbits on factory farms?
For many people in the US, rabbits are considered a family pet, or a character from a beloved children’s story. But across the world, many millions of rabbits live their lives in factory farms, crammed into tiny cages. But what for?
Why are rabbits farmed?
Rabbit meat in the US was more popular prior to the 1960s, after which poultry and beef dominated the animal meat markets. Worldwide, large volumes of rabbit meat are also used as an ingredient in pet food, and in some parts of the world, hundreds of millions of rabbits are also reared for their fur. In the US today, there are around 5,000 operational rabbit farms.
Are rabbits farmed in the US?
While there have been some efforts to start intensive rabbit farming in the UK over recent decades, there has not at any point been a significant rabbit farming industry operating in the US.
In recent years, applications for intensive farms have been thwarted by local campaigns so although there may be some very small-scale rabbit meat production, rabbit farming is not a functional industry here. Rabbit meat sold in high-end restaurants and butchers is typically imported from France, Spain, and Italy.
How are rabbits treated on farms?
The vast majority of rabbit farms in Europe are highly intensive, and cannot meet the basic welfare needs of rabbits. The rabbits can be divided into two kinds; those used for breeding, and those reared for meat.
What are fattening rabbits?
“Fattening rabbits,” also known as “meat rabbits,” live in small, barren, overcrowded cages with about 80 square inches of space per rabbit; that’s less than an A4 sheet of paper.
They live in vast sheds which often house tens of thousands of rabbits. The cages are lined up side-by-side and stacked in tiers suspended three to six feet off of the ground. Their urine and feces gather in large, stinking piles below them. They spend their entire lives on wire mesh, unable to stand comfortably or carry out important natural behaviors like digging, burrowing, hiding, or hopping. The conditions are so restrictive, with around four to six rabbits per cage, that they cannot comfortably lie down and often have to rest on top of one another.
The conditions and stresses endured are so bad, that rabbit farming has an extremely high mortality rate, mostly due to respiratory and intestinal infections. A whopping 15-30% of all fattening rabbits die before they reach slaughter age, which is about eight to 12 weeks.
What are breeding rabbits?
Breeding rabbits, who are a larger size because they have reached maturity, are typically kept individually and provided with slightly more space. However, they still live their lives on mesh which causes sores on their feet. They are unable to carry out natural behaviors, including pursuing the strong urges a rabbit mother-to-be has to build a safe, cozy burrow for her brood.
Female rabbits are bred to have large litters, and are artificially inseminated 11 days after giving birth to each litter. Breeding rabbits die prematurely or are culled within a year.
One doe sticks in my mind. When the farmer yanked her out of her cage to be artificially inseminated, I could see she had bald patches and scratch marks all over her back and rear-end. The farmer explained to me that he used her to hold the male rabbits over when he collected their semen, and it was the claws of the male rabbits that had caused her extensive injuries.
— Rich Hardy, Undercover investigator
How are factory-farmed rabbits killed?
After eight to 10 weeks being “fattened,” young rabbits are caught by hand and transported to slaughterhouses. The handling is often rough, and despite animal welfare legislation which says that animals should not be carried by limbs, ears or horns, rabbits are often grabbed by the ears or scruffs. They are often then piled into repurposed shopping carts being wheeled down the aisles before being stuffed into crates for transportation.
Once at the slaughterhouse, the rabbit crates are stacked on top of one another. The crates should have layers of plastic between, but this is not always the case, resulting in the waiting rabbits becoming soaked in the urine of those above them.
Slaughter legislation requires that rabbits should be stunned prior to slaughter, and this is carried out with a V-shaped electrical stunner. The rabbits are pulled out of the crates individually, and their heads pushed into the metal V, which administers an electric shock. If done correctly, the rabbit is rendered unconscious. However, if workers are rushing it’s not uncommon for rabbits to not make full contact with the stunner and be left partially or fully conscious.
The rabbits are then attached to hooks on an overhead conveyor belt, by pushing the hook through the gap between the tendons in their back legs. The next worker then cuts the rabbits’ throats and they die by bleeding out.
The first time I walked into a rabbit slaughterhouse, I thought I had stumbled into a horror film. Hundreds of beautiful white rabbits sat waiting, their little strawberry-coloured eyes watching all that was going on around them, while those on the processing-line hung lifeless, with dark-red blood running over their soft, bright-white bodies.
— Pru Elliott, Campaigner
What can I do?
Many consumers in the US assume that rabbit meat in restaurants or small butchers is wild-caught and assume it has had a “good life.” However, this is rarely the case.
Even establishments which sell rabbit meat may have no idea how it was produced. If rabbit meat is being sold or served in your local community, ask about its origins, and share information with the establishment about the way rabbits are factory farmed.
