Caged rabbits, injured or deformed due to limited space. Europe, including Italy, bans these farms

A new investigation was published today documenting Conditions rabbits I was born in Italy. To disclose it, the Italian coalition supported dYou have finished the cage era, the European Citizens Initiative (ICE) calling for an end to the use of all types of cages for animals raised for food. The images were collected by Be Animals – part of the alliance – between September 2021 and April 2022, on seven farms located in Venetothe region where more than 40% of rabbit meat is produced nationwide, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.

In barns, animals are kept in small cages for batteries, where there are 2 or 3 adult rabbits or 6-7 young rabbits. The cages consist entirely of metal gridsincluding the underside where the animal’s claws rest, and it does not have sufficient ecological enrichment.

Thanks to the micro-camera that the investigators placed in a cage for 12 hours, we documented the behavior of these animals throughout the day.

As is often the case in organizations like this, animals have stereotypical behaviours, i.e. repetitive behaviors With no clear function, due to the inability to move and meet their moral needs. Some are apathetic, others are injured in the legs, ears, and head, whether due to cage conditions or the companions’ aggressiveness. In some cages there are carcasses of dead animals.

Rabbits that have young cannot adequately express their maternal instincts. It is the operator who decides when they can reach the nest, so they are not the ones to choose When do you interact with puppies? This causes great stress. In fact, the photos show that rabbits forcibly scratch the (closed) nest door.

there the prison and here Stress It can also cause weak bones in animals e skeletal abnormalitieswhich harms their immune system even respiratory diseases and dermatitis. The law also does not indicate a minimum cage size, That is why adult animals currently have as much space as an A4 sheet at their disposal. Restriction of movement is one of the main problems of these animals, which cannot even stand in cages on their hind legs.

These problems, the alliance asserts, are due to circumstances caged breeding. Conditions that deprive animals of vital space and stimuli, are at least essential factors for a decent living and are therefore incompatible with animal welfare. With this investigation, the coalition asks the Italian government to support it Cage farming is prohibited Which will be proposed by the European Union Commission and anticipates the ban at the national level as soon as possible.

On June 30, 2021, the European Commission pledged to phase out and permanently ban the use of cages on European farms through ad hoc legislation – an extraordinary achievement due to the 1.4 million people who signed up to the European Citizens Initiative (ICE) to end the cage era. But once the legislative proposal is submitted, it will also have to be evaluated and approved by the Council of the European Union, which is made up of ministers from member states. That is why it is necessary to Italy supports this transition without reservation.

The Italian government faces a crossroads: in the coming months it will have to decide whether to endorse an outdated breeding system, which forces living creatures to live in conditions of extreme deprivation inside cages, in fact exposing them to physical and mental suffering, or support Prohibition of this abhorrent practice And to also be a bulwark in Europe for benign changes in favor of greater protection of farmed animals for animal welfare.

Join the campaign to eliminate animal cages: Signing the appeal.