Victory: Rabbit Factory Farm Plans Withdrawn!

Rabbits were spared a life of being suspended in wire cages inside windowless sheds as plans for a factory farm in South Derbyshire have been withdrawn.

PETA supporters sent more than 2,000 e-mails to South Derbyshire District Council urging it to reject the plans. The proposed farm would have housed up to 260 breeding does by the end of three years, each of whom would have been forced to produce up to 52 babies a year. The rabbits would have been individually housed in an unnatural environment which affords no fresh air or sunlight and can cause extremely painful bone disorders and foot inflammations. Stressed captive animals often resort to neurotic, self-harming behaviour.

Rabbits are sensitive social animals who, in the wild, build intricate burrow systems and have a strict hierarchy. Confining these normally gentle animals to cages denies them everything that is natural and important to them, such as foraging for food, tending to their young and even jumping.

Many thanks to all our supporters who sent letters and to the council for not supporting this kind of abuse.