While the upcoming ban on fur farming in Ireland is welcome, we call upon the Agriculture Minister to add the humble rabbit to the list of animals that cannot be farmed for their fur. The Animal Health and Welfare (Fur farming) Bill as drafted applies to cats, chinchillas, dogs, foxes, mink and weasels. But the rabbit is missing from the list of protected animals.
It is vital that this animal be included in the legislation because, although there is presently no rabbit farming in Ireland there would be nothing to prevent somebody from starting it, as with mink farming, in the absence of a specific prohibition on the practice.
Rabbit farming would subject these animals to immense suffering. They would be crammed into cages and killed by throat-cutting after enduring months of unnatural confinement and light deprivation. All so that their fur could be used in boots, hats, gloves, or as trim for jackets.
There‘s another reason to outlaw rabbit farming: The animal is susceptible to the highly contagious Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD2) which causes agonizing death. In the past two years the disease has been confirmed in the Irish countryside. Infected rabbits have been found partially paralyzed, with swollen eyelids, bleeding from the eyes and mouth. The disease can spread easily in conditions where rabbits are bunched together, as would occur in a farm or factory setting.
Please ask Ireland’s Agriculture Minister, Charlie McConalogue, to add rabbits to the list of animals that cannot be farmed for their fur.
The Minister can be contacted in a number of ways:
By phone: Tel: (01) 618 3199
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie; charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CharlieMcConalogue
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@McConalogue
Or you can write to him: You can compose a letter or email of your own or use this sample:
Dear Minister McConalogue,
I appeal to you to please include rabbits in list of protected animals in the Animal Health and Welfare (Fur farming) Bill, which will prohibit fur farming in Ireland.
Rabbit fur farming is an extremely cruel practice in which the animals are confined in cages and subjected to high levels of stress and suffering before having their throats cut.
I ask you to please ensure that the upcoming ban on fur farming in Ireland includes rabbits so that they can never be farmed for their fur in Ireland.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,