Over 21,000 Join PETA in Opposing Rutland Rabbit Prison

Over 21,000 Join PETA in Opposing Rutland Rabbit Prison

Rutland – After hearing that a commercial farm which would imprison rabbits for their meat and fur could be built in Rutland, condemning mothers to a life of sexual exploitation and up to 10,000 of their babies every year to a violent death, over 21,000 concerned residents and PETA supporters have signed the group’s petition urging Rutland County Council to reject the application.

“Thousands of compassionate people have spoken, and Rutland County Council should heed their concerns for animal welfare, the environment, and the health of the community,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA is calling for this plan to be scrapped, sparing scores of gentle rabbits a lifetime of suffering and an agonising death.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or wear” – notes that rabbits are playful, active animals who, in nature, spend their time digging, racing, jumping, and hopping. But on commercial farms, they’re often prevented from engaging in these natural forms of behaviour and denied psychological stimulation and adequate food and space. They frequently display abnormal behaviour, such as over-grooming, indicative of severe anguish. Many suffer acute pain and die prematurely from respiratory or intestinal diseases.

The group further notes that cramming stressed rabbits together on faeces-ridden farms, transporting them in filthy lorries, and slaughtering them on killing floors soaked with blood, urine, and other bodily fluids means deadly pathogens emerge that can spread from animals to humans. Currently, rabbit viral haemorrhagic disease 2 is spreading rapidly on rabbit farms across the UK – and the devastating COVID-19 pandemic arose from confining and killing animals for food.

PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on FacebookTwitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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