Disclaimer
This article is discussing a form of rabbit cruelty. Even though we discuss the issues in text, we will not show images, give links to videos or distressing material to promote the cruel aspects of the fur market trade. That being said, everyone must become aware of the trade on rabbit fur and the methods of collection.
Together we can make the world a better place for rabbits.
Selective Breeding
Even though we have a whole article dedicated to the topic of selective breeding, we must cover the basics here so that it makes sense.
Selective breeding is when humans breed animals for certain traits. In this article, we are talking about fur, and so the rabbits are bred for their fur length, quality, colours and texture. In the world of selective breeding, humans don’t care about the genetic deformities, health issues and stress that they put their animals through, they only care whether the animal is suitable for their nefarious purposes. Usually to make money.
The Truth About Fur Farms
Disclaimer: Gargantuan trigger warning. Skip this if you don’t want to have nightmares.
About 85% of the fur industry’s skins and pelts come from live animals living in captive fur factory farms. These farms hold thousands of animals, and their practices are the same across the globe. These farms, along with intensive-confinement animal farms, only use methods that are designed to maximise profits, at the expense of the animals.
Minks, foxes, chinchillas, lynxes and raccoon dogs are all farmed for their fur. In one particular Russian farm, they found over 700 cages that imprisoned 2000 animals in a single shed. These animals were bred and slaughtered for their fur.
At other facilities, workers don’t care if the animal is unconscious before severing off their head or breaking their necks.
Rabbits are slaughtered by the millions for meat in China, Italy and Spain. Rabbit fur was initially considered a simple by-product, something left over after the animal’s meat was removed. The rabbit fur industry demanded thicker pelts from older animals. Usually rabbits that were raised for meat were killed before they were 12 weeks old. The United Nations reports that at least 1 billion rabbits are killed each year for their fur, which is used in clothing, lures in flyfishing, and for trim on craft items.
An investigation conducted by PETA into Chinese rabbit farms, said that one particular “slaughterhouse in China forced rabbits to live in cramped, filthy cages before finally being strung up and skinned – sometimes while still alive.“
No federal humane slaughter law protects animals in fur factory farms, and killing methods are gruesome. It is all about preserving the quality of the fur, and their methods to keep the pelt intact usually results in extreme suffering for the animal.
Rabbits are crammed into boxes and poisoned with hot, unfiltered engine exhaust from a truck. The exhaust is not always lethal, and some animals wake up while being skinned. Larger rabbits have clamps attached or forced into their mouths and rods forced into their anuses, and painfully electrocuted. Strychnine is used to suffocate them by paralysing their muscles, giving them painful rigid cramps. Gas chambers, decompression chambers, neck-breaking, and many other methods are used. The fur industry refuses to condemn any method of killing, even electrocution.
Rabbit Fur
During the 1920’s rabbit fur started to become popular. It was used to produce many different fabrics, hats, bags, coats and blankets. By 1924, it accounted for half of the US fur trade. The most high quality fur was produced in Spain and France, while China now produces more for commercial grade. Production in the USA and Australia is for art and crafts only.
Between 1920 and around 1960 rabbit fur was often dyed and sold as other animal’s fur, because it could be produced inexpensively. Rabbit furs would be dyed to look like mink (called minkony) or white ermine fur (called ermiline), and even given black spots to imitate a real ermine. Once the labelling laws became stricter, rabbit fur no longer could be used to imitate other animals, and the trade of rabbit fur slowly faded away in North America.
Now, the trade for Angora rabbit fur, which are specifically bred for this purpose, are used to create Angora wool. But as the hair is only used, and not the skin, it does not qualify as fur.
Rabbits used in the fur trade
The colours that rabbit furs could be dyed were limited, which forced fur factories to get fur from other rabbit breeds. The Havana, Lilac and Checkered Giant were extremely valuable because their fur didn’t need to be dyed.
Here is a list of rabbit pelt names:
- Australian seal: Australian rabbit shorn and dyed to replicate natural seal fur.
- Baltic black fox, Baltic brown fox, Baltic white fox: rabbit was dyed so it’s fur resembled the fox colouring. White fox was undyed and from a rabbit or a hare.
- Baltic leopard: Australian rabbit dyed and marked to look like it had leopard spots.
- Baltic lion, Baltic red fox: Australian rabbit with its natural hue, with yellow or red tones.
- Baltic tiger: Australian rabbit dyed to have stripes like a tiger.
- Beaver coney, French coney, beaverette, Belgian beaver: dyed with the tips sheared to resemble a short dark-brown coat of a natural beaver.
- Bluerette: rabbit dyed blue.
- Castorette: rabbit dyed to replicate a beaver.
- Chinchillette: rabbit dyed to resemble a chinchilla (not the variety of rabbit), having a gradient of grey markings. Chapchillas and French chinchilla were dyed hare.
- Coney leopard, coney mole: sheared dyed rabbit to have spots like a leopard
- Electric: used to explain that the fur resembles other animals, like beaver, mole, or seal.
- Ermilette, ermilene, imitation ermine: white rabbit fur, sometimes with dyed black spots. Used for stoles and robes of state.
- French coney: white shorn rabbit.
- French sable: rabbit dyed to look like the more expensive sable.
- Lapin: Shorn dyed rabbit in a variety of colours.
- Mendoza beaver dyed coney, Mendoza beaver: a trade name of the Mendoza Fur Dyeing Works.
- Minkony: rabbit dyed to resemble a mink, in a variety of colours.
- Molin, Moline, coney mole: dyed to look like mole fur.
- Muskratine: shorn and dyed to look like a seal.
- Nutriette: shorn and dyed to look like Nutria fur.
- Sealine, Arctic seal, Australian seal, Roman seal, northern seal, seal dyed coney, Baltic seal, bay seal, coast seal, near seal, sealette: sheared and dyed to replicate sal fur.
- Squirrelette: dyed to look like a blue/grey squirrel.
Angora Wool
Disclaimer: Another trigger warning. Honestly, how can we let this continue?
Angora hair or Angora fibre is the soft coat produced by the Angora rabbit. Angora is made of thin silky fibres, which knitters call a halo or fluffiness. It is much warmer and lighter than wool because it has a hollow core.
There English, French, Satin and Giant Angora rabbit breeds are the only four that are recognised through the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association. Each breed produced a different quality of fur and has a different range of colours, including white, tan, grey, brown and black. These rabbits have been selectively bred to produce lots of hair.
90% of Angora fur is produced in China, while Europe, Chile and the USA produce small quantities. In China, more than 50 million Angora rabbits grow 2,500-3,000 tonnes of fiber a year. They harvest, pluck or shear, the hair up to three times a year.
In 2013, videos surfaced showing that Angora rabbits were plucked raw on Chinese farms. Major brands like Hugo Boss, Gap Inc., Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, H&M and Espirit banned Angora products due to the welfare concerns.
In 2016, more disturbing footage was released by One Voice, a French animal rights charity, showing animals were pinned down with their front legs spread apart as workers ripped hair from their skin. In the video, the rabbits scream and cry in pain as their fur is ripped clean out of their skin. The workers left the rabbits bare, bleeding and sore, except for their heads.
The best quality fur is taken from their back and upper sides. This is the longest and cleanest hair on the entire rabbit. The second quality hair is from the neck and lower sides, which may need to be washed, and the third quality hair is from the buttocks, legs and any other areas that produce hair long enough to make felt. The fourth quality is anywhere else on the rabbit, and is usually not taken because it is too stained to use.
Four Paws
Four Paws is the global animal welfare organisation for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them. They have offices in in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam. They are calling for:
- a worldwide ban on all cage systems for rabbits
- an end to breeding angora rabbits with excessive hair – which compromises their welfare and health just for fashion purposes
- an end to the cruel handling of rabbits – naturally prey animals that have not established a positive relationship with the humans that they’re in contact with
- that the fashion industry stops using Angora wool – there are plenty of cruelty free, sustainable alternatives of non-animal origins
- the fulfillment of basic needs of the Angora rabbit, if neglected, it leads to poor welfare states and therefore to suffering, acute pain, distress, fear, and long-term negative welfare states. Basic needs are…
- Rabbits need to be able to move freely and hop around their cage where they are also able to forage, explore and rest; there should be hiding places available, along with elevated surfaces.
- Rabbits are a social species and must be kept in stable groups – they should be kept socially as it is otherwise highly detrimental to their health but with ample retreat options so that they can retreat from possible aggressive situations with conspecifics in the group
- Readily available gnawing material and a balanced diet is not essential only for the enrichment purposes, but the lack of hay and straw for food can cause severe teeth problems and consequently diarrhea and other bowel diseases that leads to death in rabbits
- A digging crate with sand and soil or other options for digging should be made available so that the animals can express their natural behavior
- Sufficient lying space with dry and soft bedding – wire mesh flooring causes serious injuries to the paws or legs which can lead to severe complications if they become infected.
- Their housing should have a good ventilation in place – poor air quality due to the high ammonia content causes breathing problems, lung diseases and purulent eyes.
- Animals should be kept in good health and receive veterinary care when and if needed, along with pain relief for injuries that inevitably occur during the shearing process.
They say: “Over six billion animals are exploited for fashion and textiles every single year. Animal-free clothing is the ultimate kind and cruelty-free fashion and making carefully considered decisions is a great step towards achieving a kinder wardrobe. There is no cruelty-free way of keeping Angora rabbits. Make a conscious choice about the clothes that you wear and #WearItKind by avoiding Angora wool products.”
Take a pledge to #wearitkind and help work towards an animal-friendly fashion future.
PeTA
“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) is the largest animal rights organisation in the world, and PeTA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally.” They stand by the concept that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.
PeTA has changed some very important ways that industries treat animals, from getting Budweiser to stop cutting off Clydesdales’ tailbones, stopping camel rides of a cruel organisations around the Giza pyramids, persuading University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Medical School to stop maiming animals and getting Walmart to stop having in store breeding dog stands.
We will look at organisations like Four Paws and PeTA to more detail in the Welfare Organisations article.