Dear rabbit lovers,

We hope you are all well and we're sorry we have not posted for a while. We have been busy promoting rabbit welfare through a number of campaigns which we'll be posting here too very shortly.

First some good news. You may recall that a couple of years ago we asked the RSPCA and others if we could join the committee working on the proposed Good Practice Code for the Welfare of Rabbits. Having read similar Codes for other United Kingdom countries that still mentioned hutches as rabbit accommodation, we were keen to promote our cage-free philosophy for the committee's consideration.

At the time we contacted a couple of committee members, including the the RSPCA, the Blue Cross and the RWA, some more sympathetic than others, but our ideas were considered ahead of their time. It was also disappointing that we were not invited to join the committee, while the pet industry/pet food industry were heavily represented.

We have now had the chance to read the proposed Code and are very happy (and a little surprised) to report that there's no mention of hutches or cages. Instead the Code recommends shelters within a pen, room, outbuilding, etc. for the bunnies to retreat to - not to be locked in. It's heartening that our ideas must have trickled through and in the end won the day.

We believe that it's in the rabbits' interest for animal welfare organisations to work together. This also avoid duplicating campaigns, awareness days, slogans, petitions, etc. (some of our ideas have been copied outright or almost word for word, including A hutch is not a home and the name of our magazine Hop to it). We also believe that, while there are good companies that make excellent products, it is unethical to include them on welfare committees as their primary interest will always be to make a profit. For example our colleagues in the US (the non-profit House Rabbit Society) are by law not even allowed to advertise. 

At Cottontails we are pleased to support the proposed Good Practice Code for the Welfare of Rabbits as this is great news for rabbits. In future, we hope that animal welfare organisations will have a more open-minded and open-hearted approach to working together. Our door is always open.

Have a good day everyone and thank you!

PS It would still help if you signed/shared this petition as it supports our other campaigns too, for example when we contact the media. Thank you.