No, Angora rabbits don't like having their fur pulled out!
Following its investigation into numerous angora rabbit farms in 2016 and images taken in 2018 showing that nothing has changed. One Voice attacked the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in front of the State Council for its implicit refusal to ban the practice of depilating angora rabbits. The hearing will take place in Paris on June 7th at 2 p.m.
“Combing” or “depilation” is a painful practice for rabbits, which is a gross understatement. This operation of hair removal is carried out while they are totally conscious, to pluck their entire body hair by handles, four times a year, for years to come. To do this, they are sometimes held motionless, squeezed between the farmer’s legs, sometimes tied to a board in painful, stretched out positions. The skin is often torn off along with the hair, especially around the eyes and genitals, where it is the thinnest and most fragile. The howls of the rabbits pierce the eardrums, who do not use their voice to communicate except in case of great danger.
Proof of this is in our 2016 undercover survey which was carried out involving several farms, and it was update in 2018 with images from a whistle-blower. Nothing had changed two years after the scandal was unearthed by One Voice and widely publicized.
The females used as reproducers, sexing at just a few weeks old, rabbits who die from the cold due to their fragility at low temperature, the fast which is imposed several days before the forced hair removal, all these “secondary” elements combine and go towards the sense of stopping this barbaric practice.
The association therefore challenged the Ministry of Agriculture and then made this appeal following its silence. The status quo is not acceptable for Angora rabbits.
At a time when a new farm is in danger of opening, subsidized by the Somme department and without a preliminary investigation, we protest against the fact that France persists in supporting such industries based on animal suffering. The French have expressed very clearly their desire to live in a society in which ecology is central, and where animals are respected. The government must take the measure of its decisions.
Muriel Arnal says: “Through our investigations, public awareness and procedures, we will continue to defend angora rabbits. They too have the right to something other than a miserable life of suffering and stress.”
The public judgment session of June 7th, 2019 will be held at 2 p.m. at the State Council in Paris, metro Palais Royal.