We love rabbits and think they make excellent pets.
However, responsible breeding involves finding ways to make sure that any unhealthy, incurably mean or really poor-quality rabbits don't end up in circulation, and that only the best are bred to improve the lines and develop the breed. Sometimes rabbits will become injured in a way that is not treatable and is causing them pain. This means that it is sometimes necessary to humanely euthanize some rabbits. We feel that it best honors the rabbit's life to make use of the meat and pelt so it does not go to waste.
I am a strong supporter of rabbit as a small-footprint, humane, sustainable source of meat that is practical and easy to raise at home and therefore promotes a more self-sufficient and local way of raising food.
Many people don't realize that rabbits were originally domesticated as meat animals, and were hunted for their meat long before they were pets. In the wild they are a prey animal. Rabbits are an important food for owls, wolves, bobcats and many other animals. For a raw-fed dog, cat or other carnivore, rabbit is a very healthy food that is about as close as you can get to what their ancestors ate in the wild.
Yes, rabbits make great pets and they have wonderful personalities--the same can be said for sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and many other meat animals. We like our meat to be as humane, healthy and well-treated as possible, which is part of the reason we buy pasture-raised beef and lamb from a local farmer.
I don't like the fact that something alive (whether plant, animal or both) always has to die so that others can live, but that's the way life is.
Most people don't realize that several of the big-name organizations like PETA and the Humane Society of the U.S. aren't just out to improve animal welfare. If you dig around a bit, you'll find that they've made it quite clear that their goal is to completely eradicate the existence of all domestic animals.
These activists have no problem disseminating outright lies, such as in PETA's "Undercover" rabbit slaughter video, which claims that open eyes and movement are a "sure sign" that the animal is aware and feeling what is taking place, while showing footage of a headless carcass twitching from reflexes as it is being skinned. Of course, there is no way that a carcass without a head is actually feeling anything.
Open eyes and reflexive movement are not pretty, but they are normal in an animal that has been killed quickly and humanely. A quick death is the most humane, and the only time a living creature dies quickly without twitching is when it is injected with paralytic drugs as in lethal injection.
I have had rabbits euthanized via lethal injection. It took longer and I felt that it was more stressful for the rabbit and less humane than the dispatch methods I have seen used in homestead and rabbit farm settings. The animal has to endure the stress and discomfort of a journey to a strange place, and still experiences brief pain and the trauma of being held down and given a shot, but the meat is rendered inedible when chemical injections are used.
The ways rabbits are most commonly butchered for meat are very humane, and unconsciousness happens very quickly. If it's done fast enough, you can have a piece of meat such as a leg, not attached to anything else but still twitching. The rabbit goes from calm, comfortable and unsuspecting to unconscious and unaware of any sensation almost instantly. I have seen people amazed at how calm and non-stressful it was for the rabbits--it was much less traumatic than what they had imagined.
Much of the rabbit meat in the USA comes from small farms that raise rabbits carefully with no hormones or routine unnecessary antibiotics, where they are cared for well and butchered humanely.
There is not much (if any) profit in raising rabbits on a small scale, so the vast majority of people do it because they enjoy the animals and appreciate their suitability for humane, low-footprint, local meat. In my experience, the meat rabbit newsgroups are overwhelmingly populated by people with a genuine concern for their animals, and for taking excellent care of them and treating them humanely. Many of the discussions are about the most humane and caring ways to give them the best possible treatment in both life and death.
If you eat meat and care about having your meat be healthy and humane, rabbit can be an excellent choice. Rabbit is also one of the easiest meats to raise and process at home in a small family setup, so is of particular interest to people interested in raising more self-sufficient, sustainable food at home with a small environmental footprint. It is especially valuable as a survival food because a carcass is the right size to feed a family for one or two meals without requiring refrigeration or special storage of excess meat.
Rabbits are far more efficient at feed conversion than many other meat animals, producing about 6 times the amount of meat per unit of food and water compared to a cow. One pair of rabbits can produce 320 lbs. of meat in a year--more than a cow, on less feed and far less space (a cow requires about 2 acres). (Statistics from Ardneg Rabbit Meat)
Rabbit is also one of the healthiest meats, low in fat and cholesterol and high in protein and other nutrients. Finally, rabbit is one of the best choices for feeding raw meat to a pet--as close as possible to what most carnivores would eat in the wild, and easily fed whole for a prey-model diet.
Here are some facts about the nutrition of rabbit meat from WholeFood4Pets.
You may also be interested in our page on Rabbit Overpopulation Myths.
Shiny Satins Rabbitry
http://shinysatins.weebly.com
However, responsible breeding involves finding ways to make sure that any unhealthy, incurably mean or really poor-quality rabbits don't end up in circulation, and that only the best are bred to improve the lines and develop the breed. Sometimes rabbits will become injured in a way that is not treatable and is causing them pain. This means that it is sometimes necessary to humanely euthanize some rabbits. We feel that it best honors the rabbit's life to make use of the meat and pelt so it does not go to waste.
I am a strong supporter of rabbit as a small-footprint, humane, sustainable source of meat that is practical and easy to raise at home and therefore promotes a more self-sufficient and local way of raising food.
Many people don't realize that rabbits were originally domesticated as meat animals, and were hunted for their meat long before they were pets. In the wild they are a prey animal. Rabbits are an important food for owls, wolves, bobcats and many other animals. For a raw-fed dog, cat or other carnivore, rabbit is a very healthy food that is about as close as you can get to what their ancestors ate in the wild.
Yes, rabbits make great pets and they have wonderful personalities--the same can be said for sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and many other meat animals. We like our meat to be as humane, healthy and well-treated as possible, which is part of the reason we buy pasture-raised beef and lamb from a local farmer.
I don't like the fact that something alive (whether plant, animal or both) always has to die so that others can live, but that's the way life is.
Most people don't realize that several of the big-name organizations like PETA and the Humane Society of the U.S. aren't just out to improve animal welfare. If you dig around a bit, you'll find that they've made it quite clear that their goal is to completely eradicate the existence of all domestic animals.
These activists have no problem disseminating outright lies, such as in PETA's "Undercover" rabbit slaughter video, which claims that open eyes and movement are a "sure sign" that the animal is aware and feeling what is taking place, while showing footage of a headless carcass twitching from reflexes as it is being skinned. Of course, there is no way that a carcass without a head is actually feeling anything.
Open eyes and reflexive movement are not pretty, but they are normal in an animal that has been killed quickly and humanely. A quick death is the most humane, and the only time a living creature dies quickly without twitching is when it is injected with paralytic drugs as in lethal injection.
I have had rabbits euthanized via lethal injection. It took longer and I felt that it was more stressful for the rabbit and less humane than the dispatch methods I have seen used in homestead and rabbit farm settings. The animal has to endure the stress and discomfort of a journey to a strange place, and still experiences brief pain and the trauma of being held down and given a shot, but the meat is rendered inedible when chemical injections are used.
The ways rabbits are most commonly butchered for meat are very humane, and unconsciousness happens very quickly. If it's done fast enough, you can have a piece of meat such as a leg, not attached to anything else but still twitching. The rabbit goes from calm, comfortable and unsuspecting to unconscious and unaware of any sensation almost instantly. I have seen people amazed at how calm and non-stressful it was for the rabbits--it was much less traumatic than what they had imagined.
Much of the rabbit meat in the USA comes from small farms that raise rabbits carefully with no hormones or routine unnecessary antibiotics, where they are cared for well and butchered humanely.
There is not much (if any) profit in raising rabbits on a small scale, so the vast majority of people do it because they enjoy the animals and appreciate their suitability for humane, low-footprint, local meat. In my experience, the meat rabbit newsgroups are overwhelmingly populated by people with a genuine concern for their animals, and for taking excellent care of them and treating them humanely. Many of the discussions are about the most humane and caring ways to give them the best possible treatment in both life and death.
If you eat meat and care about having your meat be healthy and humane, rabbit can be an excellent choice. Rabbit is also one of the easiest meats to raise and process at home in a small family setup, so is of particular interest to people interested in raising more self-sufficient, sustainable food at home with a small environmental footprint. It is especially valuable as a survival food because a carcass is the right size to feed a family for one or two meals without requiring refrigeration or special storage of excess meat.
Rabbits are far more efficient at feed conversion than many other meat animals, producing about 6 times the amount of meat per unit of food and water compared to a cow. One pair of rabbits can produce 320 lbs. of meat in a year--more than a cow, on less feed and far less space (a cow requires about 2 acres). (Statistics from Ardneg Rabbit Meat)
Rabbit is also one of the healthiest meats, low in fat and cholesterol and high in protein and other nutrients. Finally, rabbit is one of the best choices for feeding raw meat to a pet--as close as possible to what most carnivores would eat in the wild, and easily fed whole for a prey-model diet.
Here are some facts about the nutrition of rabbit meat from WholeFood4Pets.
You may also be interested in our page on Rabbit Overpopulation Myths.
Shiny Satins Rabbitry
http://shinysatins.weebly.com
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