Have you ever wondered where the cute rabbits you see in pet zoos and pet stores come from? At Israel Hayom, we took a rare glimpse into a rabbit breeding center (name withheld), from which we discovered a terrible trend – rabbits are being "produced" for sale.
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The documentation reveals a grim reality, where rabbits are kept in isolation, in cages exposed to the sun and in high density, without the possibility of hiding or burrowing, a sight reminiscent of the battery cages associated with the egg industry. While animal cruelty regulations were established last year that will gradually remove these cages from use in poultry farming – they are still used legally to breed rabbits.
Video: Rabbits in petting zoos and stores exposed to direct sunlight
"It's an industry, in the full sense of the word," says attorney Erez Wall, director of the Legal Department of the nonprofit Let the Animals Live. "The rabbits are both the product and the manufacturing machines and less important to the breeder than the bottom line."
According to Wohl, all violations of the regulations were corrected in both the breeding center documented and in other breeding centers; however, the rabbits' lives are still full of exploitation and loneliness – and extremely different from how rabbits would live in nature. "Even though rabbits are social animals, in the discussion of the issue that took place in court, the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture – who is supposed to enforce the law – insisted that it is unreasonable for breeders to be required to keep rabbits in groups, even if it is possible for breeders to do so in a breeding facility that holds hundreds of rabbits for long periods of time," Wall added.
The rabbit industry in Israel focuses on keeping them in zoos, petting zoos, and in private homes; however, the industry bases its breeding methods on methods common in Europe. As part of the court motions the breeding centers owners filed in court, they claimed that the cages bought are commonly used in Spain – one of the five leading countries on the continent in raising rabbits for slaughter. It is worth noting that the court recently rejected the nonprofit's petition on the subject, saying that "The applicant failed to point to the existence of the factual basis, according to which suffering was caused to the animals due to the way they were kept in the respondent's business."
Tamar Levi, director of the Born for Life animal shelter, where dozens of animals are kept who were rescued from pet stores, dog pounds, and homes, says that in the documentation you can see how a rabbit behaves in its natural environment. "Rabbits are fearful animals by nature. When they are not in a safe environment, that allows them distance and refuge from threatening animals, like humans, they suffer", she says. "They are very gentle animals. In petting zoos, they die from incorrect treatment and stress within six months."
The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for enforcing the law and its regulations; however, it is evident from the breeding center that was recorded that this enforcement was not very effective. According to sources familiar with the matter, this is a relatively minor case.
In an inspection conducted in a previous breeding center of the same breeder one year earlier, violations of the law were found – but for almost a year the Ministry of Agriculture did not bother to conduct additional inspections in the breeding center run by the same breeder. Only after the nonprofit's civil petition was submitted, and only upon the breeder's request, did the ministry bother to conduct an additional inspection.
"We feel that the Ministry of Agriculture's inspections are not done to protect the animals, but instead to torpedo our civil petition," Wall says. "We know of cases where the Animal Welfare Division of the ministry actually provided breeders who violated the law with legal advice behind the scenes, and in other cases informed the court that the violation of the animal welfare law and the judgments were done with its approval and guidance."
The Ministry of Agriculture issued the following response: "We reject the allegations made, and the evidence – in this case, the court also ruled that the nonprofit asked breeders to act according to criteria that have not been clearly defined by laws or regulations. The procedures conducted by the nonprofit without prior consultation on the subject create confusion among breeders and aim to torpedo the common goal of the Ministry of Agriculture and organizations for the sake of animals.
"Regarding the case described, as part of an inspection conducted at the breeding center, the Ministry of Agriculture's inspectors found shortcomings that constitute an apparent violation of the regulations, and the breeder was summoned for an investigation that has not yet ended, and therefore we cannot go into detail. However, it should be noted that additional inspections have been conducted there since then, the deficiencies were corrected, and no new or repeated violations have been found".
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