Rabbit farming

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 16

Rabbit farming

Sir, —It appears from your article (April 16) that rabbit farming in New Zealand may be getting closer. The animals would be kept under similar conditions to battery hens. “To be economic, they have to be farmed in pens, and the young ones fed and processed for eating.” Obviously, for maximum profit the “product” will have to live in the smallest space in which they remain healthy, and we are assured that “there are no great problems involved.” The rabbit “industry” is considered in the same way as, say, the timber or glass industry. It does not occur to those concerned that rabbits are living, feeling animals, probably a great deal more intelligent than hens. Bowing to the great god “Economy,” even the S.P.C.A., both here and overseas, dares not declare hen batteries cruel. Will it be the same for the unfortunate rabbits?—Yours, etc., MARGARET MAYER. April 16, 1979.

Sir, — The proposed legislation for rabbit farming on a “battery” basis, as for poultry, is to be deplored. For a country which has ?.n abundance of natural foods, the continuing advocacy of more meat production for the economy, to be extended to rabbits (and opossums) is retrograde. Today’s article in “The Press” contained the word, “prisoners.” Criminals may deserve the same means of enclosure. Innocent animals held so for the purpose of exploitation for “economic” purposes, links with the remorseless culling of seals and whales by the Canadian Government. Those who condemn the taking of meat and fur from innocent animals for remuneration should make direct contact with the Minister concerned, — Yours, etc., NATALIE TAYLOR. April 16, 1979.