News & Media: Missing fur, crammed into tiny cages and living in filth: The disturbing conditions of rabbits farmed for Australian supermarkets are revealed in secret video
Missing fur, crammed into tiny cages and living in filth: The disturbing conditions of rabbits farmed for Australian supermarkets are revealed in secret video
The cruelty of factory farming has once more been exposed with disturbing footage revealing the horrific conditions in which rabbits are kept.
Animal Liberation released footage of a rabbit farm in Baldivis, 46km south of Perth in Western Australia, which showed rabbits left for dead in tiny, filthy cages above mountains of manure.
'I think it's one of those industries that the public is just completely aware that it even exists,' the animal welfare group's campaign director Emma Hurst told 7News.
The female rabbits, which are bred for their meat, can be farmed for up to 56 weeks, producing nine litters.
The animal welfare organisation similarly discovered rabbits with bald patches and cage floors made out of wire at another rabbit farm in Tasmania.
Some of Australia's largest rabbit farms in NSW and Victoria produce about 30,000 rabbits a year.
RSPCA NSW chief David O'Shannessy encourages the industry to consider non-caged alternatives.
'Particularly with rabbits, there might be opportunities for the animals to housed in small compatible social groups, on the ground, in litter with tunnels for behavioural enrichment,' he said.
Independent MP Alex Greenwich is looking to ban the practice.
'We hope to engage in public awareness about this cruel form of factory farming and introduce legislation this year into parliament, and work with our colleagues across the political spectrum to get this through,' he told 7News.
Supermarket giant Woolworths is considering a ban on the sale of caged rabbit meat.
