A long-haul field survey
In 2016, our investigators went to establishments where rabbits were writhing in pain. The owners had shown them how to stretch them out and attach their paws to a plank of wood in order to be able to better pull off their fur by the fistful helped with a comb. Including around the eyes and genital area, where their skin tore, leaving them without protection from the cold, and bleeding. Their cries of terror and their attempts to escape were all the more terrible to witness.
The footage that we subsequently revealed, in 2018 and 2020, showed that none of that had changed and even that one of the breeders plucked the rabbits to music while whistling as if it were nothing. Our petition is still online.
A legal battle in France and at European level
The living conditions and the exploitation of these animals are guided by European and national regulations on breeding or production animals. In this context, after our first investigation, we requested that the Minister of Agriculture and Food forbid the collection of rabbit fur by ‘depilation’ (official term), as well as the sale and purchase of products containing rabbit fur collected in this way. Faced with their implicit refusal, we went to the State Council.
On this occasion, we produced Professor Broom's main report condemning this practice and the associated breeding methods and put back into question the trustworthiness and effectiveness of Lagodendron, a plant which is supposed to help the rabbits fur fall out more easily.
In June 2019, the State Council rejected our requests mainly on the basis that the sloughing of rabbits every quarter is natural and that the method used is painless (combing and using Lagodendron). It also hid behind a Good Practice Guide, developed by the industry itself! But who better than the executioners to say that there is no suffering? We will come back to impartiality.
Following this decision, we filed a complaint before the European Commission French State on 11 June 2020. This complaint is based on the fact that “the member states have made arrangements for owners or keepers to take all appropriate measures in order to guarantee the welfare of their animals and in order to ensure that said animals do not undergo any pain, suffering, or unnecessary harm”, and that “the natural or artificial breeding methods that cause or could potentially cause suffering or harm to the animals concerned must not be practised. This arrangement does not preclude certain methods likely to cause suffering or minimal or momentary injury, or call for a procedure that is not likely to cause lasting damage, while these methods are authorised by national measures.”
But in November 2020, the Commission closed the file. According to them, we did not provide sufficient information proving the existence of a general practice, a problem with the national legislation's conformity with the Union laws, or a systematic lack of French authorities in Union law.
However, they recalled beforehand that this issue does fall under their jurisdiction...
Two procedures relaunched in light of new information
We therefore consulted Professor Broom once again, who was this time looking at the Good Practice Guide from the Institut technique de l’aviculture (ITAVI: France’s Technical Institute that is an expert in the poultry, rabbit, and fish sectors). And on 2 April 2021, we received his conclusions.
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