The Status of Pet Rabbit Breeding and Online Sales in the UK: A Glimpse into an Otherwise Elusive Industry
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
- To identify the most common breeds, location of breeders, vaccination/neuter status at point of sale and self-declared licence information from data gathered from online sale adverts.
- To establish the housing and management conditions of pet rabbit breeding colonies via online questionnaire.
- To establish the consistency of licensing and welfare assessment of UK pet rabbit breeding colonies by local authorities.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Council Pet Shop Licenses
2.2. Rabbits Sold Online
2.3. Rabbit Breeder Questionnaire
Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Council FOI Requests
Licensing Procedures
3.2. Online Sales
3.3. Rabbit Breeder Questionnaire
3.3.1. Housing and Husbandry
3.3.2. Breeding Does
3.3.3. Kits—Handling and Age Sold
3.3.4. Diet
3.3.5. Exercise
3.3.6. Enrichment
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Rabbit Breeder Questionnaire
Housing and Husbandry of Breeding Rabbits Intended for the Pet Trade |
Continuous Access | Daily | Every 1–2 Days | Every 2–3 Days | Less Often | Never | |
Bucks | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (without kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (with kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Juvenile Rabbits | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Continuous Access | Daily | Every 1–2 Days | Every 2–3 Days | Less Often | Never | |
Bucks | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (without kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (with kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Weaned kits | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Daily | Every 1–2 Days | Every 2–3 Days | Weekly | Less Often | |
Bucks | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (without kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does (with kits) | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Juvenile rabbits | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Appendix B
County | Number of Breeder/Frequent Advertisers |
---|---|
Bedfordshire | 6 |
Berkshire | 3 |
Bridgend | 1 |
Bristol | 7 |
Buckinghamshire | 10 |
Cambridgeshire | 10 |
Cardiff | 2 |
Ceredigion | 1 |
Cheshire | 11 |
Clwyd | 1 |
Conwy | 1 |
Cornwall | 6 |
County Durham | 11 |
Cumbria | 3 |
Derbyshire | 28 |
Devon | 9 |
Dorset | 9 |
Dumfriesshire | 2 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 6 |
East Sussex | 9 |
Essex | 44 |
Fife | 2 |
Gloucestershire | 13 |
Greater Manchester | 18 |
Gwynedd | 1 |
Hampshire | 25 |
Herefordshire | 3 |
Hertfordshire | 8 |
Kent | 33 |
Lanarkshire | 3 |
Lancashire | 17 |
Leicestershire | 17 |
Lincolnshire | 16 |
Merseyside | 11 |
Middlesex | 7 |
Midlothian | 1 |
Monmouthshire | 2 |
Neath Port Talbot | 2 |
Newport | 2 |
Norfolk | 9 |
North London | 2 |
North West London | 1 |
North Yorkshire | 17 |
Northamptonshire | 5 |
Northumberland | 2 |
Nottinghamshire | 24 |
Oxfordshire | 2 |
Powys | 2 |
Rhondda Cynon Taf | 1 |
Rutland | 1 |
Shropshire | 2 |
Somerset | 18 |
South East London | 3 |
South Yorkshire | 24 |
Staffordshire | 21 |
Suffolk | 11 |
Surrey | 17 |
Swansea | 2 |
Torfaen | 1 |
Tyne and Wear | 9 |
Warwickshire | 3 |
West Lothian | 3 |
West Midlands | 43 |
West Sussex | 9 |
West Yorkshire | 26 |
Wiltshire | 12 |
Worcestershire | 16 |
Total | 646 |
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Gosling, E.M.; Vázquez-Diosdado, J.A.; Harvey, N.D. The Status of Pet Rabbit Breeding and Online Sales in the UK: A Glimpse into an Otherwise Elusive Industry. Animals 2018, 8, 199. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8110199
Gosling EM, Vázquez-Diosdado JA, Harvey ND. The Status of Pet Rabbit Breeding and Online Sales in the UK: A Glimpse into an Otherwise Elusive Industry. Animals. 2018; 8(11):199. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8110199
Chicago/Turabian StyleGosling, Emma M., Jorge A. Vázquez-Diosdado, and Naomi D. Harvey. 2018. "The Status of Pet Rabbit Breeding and Online Sales in the UK: A Glimpse into an Otherwise Elusive Industry" Animals 8, no. 11: 199. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8110199