In hardly any other animal is the double morality in dealing with animals as clear as in rabbits.
On the one hand, dwarf rabbits are loved and cared for as pets. On the other hand, tens of millions of fattening rabbits throughout Europe have to spend their short lives until the time of slaughter in too narrow wire mesh cages.
The rabbits live like chickens in laying batteries. Even today!

The german Penny supermarket chain  advertises rabbit meat. And in a perverted way – because Penny calls this “BEST MOMENTS”!

Whow the  “BEST MOMENTS” in the slaughterhouse look like, we show in this video – it is indeed from the US, but slaughter, as we already know, are all the same! Cage farming is a reality for European fattening and breeding rabbits – therefore rabbit meat can be offered so cheaply.

In factory farming it is very common to see seriously ill rabbits with injured paws squeezing through the bars of the cages. Rabbits with behavioral disorders that rotate in a circle; Animals with bloody wounds and even rabbits with nibbling ears, some even with bitten ears. Rabbits with behavioral disorders that rotated in a circle;

The female animals are used as a litter machine and fertilized directly after birth, in 4-6 weeks there are new pups.
Due to the burden, the death rate is very high. A normal relationship with the young is not possible. It even happens that the young are eaten by the mother. Other consequences: Loneliness and boredom during gestation.

All this is everyday life in the rabbit barracks.

The problem for the surveillance authorities is that there are no legally binding minimum requirements for keeping, transporting and slaughtering rabbits, – neither at national nor at European level.  Only general rules on animal welfare in livestock farming can be applied.

The current federal government does not even consistently apply the Animal Welfare Act in order to dispel at least the most obvious and grave grievances in rabbit farming. Previous attempts to clarify the grievances failed. Criminal charges against commercial rabbit owners were unsuccessful!

In this regard, the rabbits are without rights and the farm owners are unscrupulous. In such cage batteries, which have been banned in Germany since the beginning of the year (from 2011 in the EU) for laying hens, there is no regulation of the rabbit fattening.

And what about the German fattening systems for rabbits? The video from the “German Animal Protection Bureau”  (Deutsches Tierschutzbüro) shows it, the pictures speak for themselves.

The animals suffer not only from physical damage such as paw injuries, spinal curvature, burnt eyes and metabolic disorders, but also from massive behavioral disorders. It starts with stereotyping how grating chewing continues with functional bursts of aggression such as trichophagy (tearing and eating their own hair) to the point of coronation (killing their own children), cannibalism and self-mutilation.

According to the animal protection organization “Four Paws”, 30 million rabbits (41,000 tons of meat) die every year in Germany alone, only to end up on the plate. Under what circumstances the animals reach their slaughter weight, apparently nobody seems to be interested in Germany. It has been known for the past five years that most rabbits come from tormenting intensive farms. Nevertheless, consumption and demand of rabbit meat is increasing rapidly.

Political steps

In September 2013, a Mast Rabbit Ordinance was passed. On August 11, 2014, the regulations came into force. Unfortunately, these allow exactly the intensive factory farming on wire bottom.

We’re a long way from the finish. Improvements are urgently needed, so that no health and behavioral damage is caused.
The caging, also for rabbits must urgently be completely abolished.

Freewheel is urgently needed. For all Animals!

The petition endthecageage has already over 1 million votes. If you have not signed yet, you should do it now, it will soon go to the EU Commission!

My best regards to all, Venus