Like most things in the United States nowadays, breeding animals in general brings up many controversies with the public, deeming in "cruel" or "greedy". The same controversies branch off to rabbit breeding as well. In some ways I can see how somebody may find rabbit breeding cruel; however, it is mostly because the people making these statements are mis-informed and have no idea why we breed in the first place. On this page, I will be listing commonly brought up controversies and talking about why we breeders do what we do that may not agree to non-breeders or  non-rabbit enthusiasts.

 

 

"Trimming or plucking Angora wool is cruel and extremely painful to the animal."

This controversy didn't start brewing until a few years ago when PETA released a video documenting people in Chinese wool factories tying Angora rabbits down and ripping the fur out of the rabbit, who is screaming in pain. It's a very hard video to watch and is abseloutely devastating to see. When breeders talk about trimming or 'plucking' the wool off the rabbit, there are quite a few people now who may start harassing them with emails or other such nasties.

 

What people don't know is that the type of Angora those people in the video were ripping fur off of was either a Giant or a German Angora, both of which need to have their wool shorn off with scissors and not be pulled out. The other three Angora breeds, the English, French, and Satin are the three types you can pluck or brush the wool out.

 

If breeders didn't brush, blow out, or trim their rabbit's fur, the rabbit would get huge mat's, urine scalds, fecal matter around its rear, and if the rabbit's mats go big enough, the rabbit may not even be able to walk! Lack of care or no care at all for the rabbit's wool would result in possible death. These animals have extremely fine and delicate fiber (each hair measure in 11 microns in diameter and is 7x warmer than sheep wool) and when cared for properly, will give you beautiful fiber and a happy, healthy bunny. Most Angora's abseloutely LOVE to be shorn or brushed. If you've watched a video on Angora Care and Wool Harvesting (I recommend watching Sarah Cuthill of Fruhlingskabine Micro-Farm's Harvesting Wool video on youtube), you know that the rabbit can sit still for hours and may even fall asleep!

 

If you'd like to see Angora rabbit trimming and wool harvesting demonstrations done, you can go your local Angora show or, in May on Memorial Day weekend, visit us at the Oaks Park Fairgrounds, located in the small, lovely neighborhood of Sellwood in Portland, Oregon.

 

 

"Rabbits shouldn't be kept in cages and/or shouldn't be housed alone".

There have been instances where rabbit siblings (usually brothers) get along and can be houses in the same enclosure. It's always nice to have two rabbits who get along very well with each other and can be left alone knowing they won't start fighting. However, if you've been around a lot of rabbits and have had experience working with lil' bunny kits, you'd soon realize that rabbits are a rather territorial group that need their own space.

 

If you put two rabbits together in the same cage, don't be suprised if they start fighting with eachother. Rabbits are territorial and, like cats, will try defending their cage space and start attacking one another. Unlike cats however, if the two rabbits are left together, the result can be death to either one or even both.

 

When outdoors it is true that the rabbits won't fight as much and are busy exploring their surroundings...but it's still an issue. It's not fair to put two territorial animals in the same space and expect them to get along. This is why each rabbit at our rabbitry gets their own 30x36 cage, which offers plenty of movement for stretching, hopping, and even enough room to stand on their hind legs. Like most other notable breeders, we let our rabbits run around in the fresh air daily. At our rabbitry, if it's not raining, hailing, or extremely wet or swampy, our rabbits usually get at the very least 5 hours of outdoor time every other day.

 

The other controversy that also adds onto housing rabbits alone is that rabbits shouldn't be housed in cages at all or shouldn't be in an enclosure. That, in my opinion, is idiotic. Pardon me for sounding rude in the last sentence, but housing rabbits with no cages or no enclosures would result in death in many ways and is one of the most fatal things you can do to a rabbit.

 

Reason no. 1 being that since the rabbits would be running around munching on greens 24/7 without being put away where they can eat pellets and hay, they would have a high risk or death caused by bloat. Too many greens is dangerous to a rabbit, and with no limitations to greens, would cause death. Some breeders who raise rabbits for meat may have free-range rabbits, but this is because those rabbits are going to be butchered at 8 weeks old and put on somebody's dinner plate. They're not being raised for pets, fiber, or other notable uses. Since I raise my rabbits for fiber, showmanship, and manure, I would never, EVER do this. If you have pet rabbits, do NOT do this to them.

 

Reason no. 2 is that rabbits are considered a prey animal. If left at night with no cage in an enclosure, they can become the next meal for a coyote or a hungry raccoon who may also be trying to go after the rabbit's food. I'd imagine it would be a gruesome sight to come out in the morning and find you rabbit(s) headless in the backyard. I'm not saying that raccoon's can't attack rabbits who are in enclosures since there have been instances of that happening, but the chances of it are very slim if the enclosure is secure.

 

Rabbits that live indoors rather than outdoors have a higher expectancy to live longer. I'm sure if you get attached to your rabbit(s) that that would be a priority.

 

 

"You only breed to make money."

I am proud to say that Heather Campbell of Oceanside Angoras, Shannon Shanks of Thistlebrook Angoras, and myself have some of the best Satin Angora stock in the county due to heavy culling (which I'll also discuss later) and lots of hard work, devotion, and love and research for the breed. It took me two years of research before I started showing and a total of five years of research and proper discipline and conduct before I even started breeding.

 

The reason I'm stating all the above is because when people accuse me and other devoted breeders of just selling to make money, it is both laughable and very insulting. It is easy to call somebody out because of their job when you haven't seen how hard we as breeders work with our stock and breeding programs. Also, if you were an Angora breeder, you would know that you do not make money raising them. You may make money off the babies and fiber but that money goes toward feed and neccesary equipment...not for spending on lavish clothes or paying off debt or taxes.

 

The reason we breed Satin Angora's is because we have a passion for this breed, and want to improve it and work with it years to come. One of my colleagues recently had to do a rescue of one of her rabbit's that fell into the hands of somebody who bred it to poor stock. If my colleague was running a rabbit mill, there is NO WAY she would have even rescued or cared for that rabbit's existance. She is a careful breeder who cares very much about her animals as much as I do. Since this is leaning towards culling now...I guess it's proper to start talking about that.

 

 

"Culling is cruel."

Oh, culling. This has got to be one of the more controversial topics of rabbit breeding. It is very easy to just look up the definition and deem it cruel of rabbit breeders to be practicing it. You may be thinking that too, which is okay. I used to think the same thing before I started breeding. However, let me explain why we do it, and then you will probably realize why it's done and why it's for the best.

 

Culling is the practice of killing or selling off livestock that doesn't suit the breeder's goals in breeding or is unhealthy, has a bad temperment, or is sick and suffering. If you have found a breeder who says they "cull hard" art their rabbitry, then you have found a good breeder.

 

The reason good breeders cull their herd hard is because they don't want to be spreading nasty, sick, or mis-colored rabbits so it doesn't spread more bad stock. All over the country are bad breeders who never cull any of their rabbits so they're spreading terrible stock around which results in even more bad stock. If you think about it, that means there are lots of tempermental, sick, poor-quality rabbits being sold around the country that are producing at least eight babies per litter with none of them being culled; which means a huge population of rabbits in shelters or worse, left in the wild.

 

Culling is both humane and in ways, vital to have high-quality, healthy stock. We devoted breeders want to sell to others stock that could compete with us in shows or bunnies that will give great fiber. Since the rabbits we are selling have our names on them, we don't want to have a reputation as "bad breeders" or owners of rabbit mills. We are careful about selection and are careful about what we cull and what we keep and sell.

 

I only have a select amount of litters per year, betwen about 3 at the minimum and 9 at the very maximum. Out of all those 50-100 babies we have per year (just an estimation) the amount that gets sold is down in the low 20's depending on how many babies we get. Sometimes whole litters may be culled because they didn't turn out correctly.Our goal is to be spreading around quality instead of quantity since the latter can be fatal.

 

We are EXTREMELY careful to who we're selling to. Even then it can be hazardous. Out of 20 or more people I talk to or email, I usually only select one person out of that group. We don't want our rabbits to be put in the wrong hands and start being bred to poor stock.

 

If you had to pick one, what would you choose: A huge herd full of unhealthy, sick, poor-quality rabbits, or a small herd of bright-eyed, shiny-coated, happy and healthy rabbits? If you chose the latter choice, then you made the right decision. Quality always comes over quantity. It's just unfortunate that some people never learn that.