Livestock Companion Animal Or What?

Rabbit Classification: Rabbits cannot be defined as solely livestock or companion animal as they are unique and multi-purpose with any single breeder utilizing their herd for more than one purpose. Purpose or uses for rabbits include meat (human and other animal), fur production, wool production, laboratory use, pets, & show. Therefore rabbits should have their own unique classification as a multi-purpose animal. Zoning laws and any other legislation applied to rabbits need to address this unique and special characteristic which is not found in any other species. If their multi-purpose utilization is not recognized it places an undue hardship on the many rabbit raisers in the United States.

The domestic rabbit is the only truly “multi-purpose” animal and as such any single breeder’s use may overlap into several very different areas. For example many show breeders are breeding to improve their herd as per a show standard. Those not needed in the breeding program may be sold as pets or breeding/show stock, or used by the breeder for (or sold to others for) consumption by humans or other animals.

How any government entity classifies the domestic rabbit affects many people, breeders, pet owners, commercial producers, pet stores, and others. Most of the time legislators are not aware of the effect of how they classify rabbits. Rabbits are unlike dogs, cats, or other types of animals because their use often overlaps as show animal, food, and pets. You just don’t see other animal breeders crossing over into so many varied purposes.

Rabbits Statistics:

35,000 members of the American Rabbit Breeders Assoc. and represent show breeders USDA
8.5 million raised for food in the US USDA
800 million used for food worldwide 1998 USDA
300,000 rabbits were used for research in 735 facilities during 1999 USDA
2 million for fur worldwide
*136 USDA inspected dealers or breeders with approximately 84,000 rabbits
*2,500 rabbits owned by 351 USDA licensed exhibitors
5.3 million kept as pets American Pet Products Manufacturing Assoc. 2002
*Hobby breeders are not required to be licensed by the USDA, the above noted as USDA license holders would be considered commercial breeders or exhibitors. According to the USDA only about 1 in 10 people who raise rabbits are ARBA members (ARBA has about 35,000 members).

“The value of the rabbit industry in the US is estimated at $25 million a year. This includes a $15 million value for rabbits raised for research purposes and $10 million a year from the sale of rabbit meat and pelts. These estimates do not include rabbits which are pets or show rabbits.” USDA http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/cei/rabbitcal.htm The USDA does not currently classify rabbits as livestock. The livestock classification is helpful to those breeding commercially for food or fiber use (assistance to farmers, etc). It negatively affects show breeders, 4-Hers, and pet owners if zoning law prohibits or restricts livestock on their property. A livestock classification also protects those raising rabbits for meat as well as other uses from being prohibited from using rabbits for food or accused of animal cruelty.

A companion animal classification would in some cases make raising rabbits for food an act of animal cruelty. It all depends on how the existing laws are worded or even new laws. This is inappropriate because rabbits have always been a traditional and legitimate source of meat for both humans and other animals. Rabbit meat is actually healthier than chicken. Since it is inexpensive to raise rabbits this also makes an excellent source of food for anyone especially low income Americans.

Rabbit “rescuers” are often pro-animal rights and are opposed to any use of rabbits as food, fur, or research. Most are also opposed to anyone breeding rabbits as pets or for show purposes. These pro-animal rights groups tell us there is an “overpopulation crisis” but data does not support that. The Rabbit Education Society estimates only about 43,000 rabbits are abandoned per year out of over 5 million maintained as pets. They have often publicly stated that they want to change the classification of rabbits to only companion animals to end their use as food and fiber. Animal rights activists represent a minority of people but they tend to be very vocal. They often draft and lobby for legislation that will negatively affect breeders and meat producers and often the people most affected are never made aware of what’s going on. The Animal Rights Agenda states that further breeding of animals and raising animals for meat must be stopped. Organizations such as the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) and The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) are actually hard core animal rights groups with an agenda and philosophy identical to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). Recently the following came from HSUS: "The HSUS does not advocate the breeding of dogs, cats or other companion animals. As has always been the case, The HSUS strongly encourages the spaying and neutering of dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., and the adoption of companion animals from local shelters." From Stephanie Shain, HSUS November 11, 2003 posted to Animalshelterreform yahoo group

For further information on how the ASPCA and HSUS have adopted a hard core animal rights philosophy please refer to Animal Rights the Inhumane Crusade by Daniel T Oliver or: HSUS It's Not About Animal Shelters www.responsiblewildlifemanagement.org/hsus_overview.htm HSUS It's Not About Animal Shelters

Legislators must balance all the needs of the community and various rabbit raisers when enacting legislation. Since rabbits do not require much space to raise limiting rabbit activities with numbers or by property size is not logical. It also hurts low income families trying to feed themselves, or hobbyists and youth pursuing a healthy responsible activity. Rabbit breeders will have more animals than what the public thinks dog or cat breeders commonly have. It is not uncommon for a show breeder to raise numerous breeds and have herd sizes of 50-100 or more. Or even as few as 10-15 rabbits. Again rabbits require little space to raise, they don’t negatively impact the environment, are clean, and odor can be kept to a minimum unlike other traditional farm animals which in large numbers can cause a nuisance. Many breeder’s rabbitries are inside their homes in a garage or porch, others use a barn, shed, or outdoor hutches. Rabbits are a versatile animal and perfect to raise as a hobby or even a small business pursuit.

Commercial meat breeders usually have herds starting at 500 and up to several thousand. If a town wants to address zoning issues for large commercial meat producers it is easy enough to do by addressing the size of the operation and/or the primary purpose and not prohibit show breeders, pet breeders, or 4-Hers raising rabbits as a hobby.

To date no entity has enacted a law classifying rabbits as “multi-purpose” which would be a new category representing a mix of livestock and companion animal classifications. Again legislators need to look at how classifying rabbits as either livestock or multi-purpose will be impacted by existing laws and future legislation. The purpose of creating a new classification category of multi-purpose is to address the overlap uses of rabbits as food, fur, pet, and show animal by any single breeder and to prevent any one activity from being prohibited or incorrectly viewed as “animal cruelty”. Rabbit breeders provide a valuable service to the community, it is unfair to prohibit or severely restrict a harmless activity which produces so many and varied benefits. We also don’t want to see pet owners prohibited from owning rabbits.

The Rabbit Education Society is a group of rabbit breeders and fanciers who work to educate the public about rabbit issues and provide accurate information about rabbits. We maintain a website at http://www.rabbited.0catch.com and a mailing list on yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rabbit-Ed-Society

Rabbits and Zoning

How many rabbits can an acre of land in a residential area support?

Many communities seeking to restrict what property owners can do on their land look to restricting rabbit raising activities. The most popular form is restricting the number of rabbits allowed. Unfortunately lawmakers are not basing their decisions on sound data and the people who get hurt are rabbit breeders.

The Rabbit Education Society believes that the number of rabbits one can raise on an acre of land without being a nuisance to neighbors numbers in the high hundreds. The reasons are simple, rabbits live in cages, do not make noise, and are pretty clean. Their manure is an excellent fertilizer and can be applied directly to gardens without aging. And they simply do not produce as much manure as larger animals.

Most communities however would rather set a limit much lower than what the RES believes is practical. So we took a look at what is available to base good decisions on.

The widely used factor to determine animal limits seems to be manure production. Cattle are primarily the species comparisons are based upon. Various sources designate manure production of cattle from 15 tons of manure per year (OH State University Extension Agronomy Facts Dept of Agriculture and crop science-Land Applications of Animal Manure AGF-208-95 //ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0208.html) to 80 tons per year (Animal manure Management RCA Issue Brief #7 Dec 1995 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/pubs/ib7text.html#table1).

From Rabbit Manure Fertilizer Values
www.ecosyn.us/ecocity/links/my_links_page/rabbit_manure01.html:

1 breeding rabbit doe and babies produce 1.53 manure,kg/animal/day
1 breeding sow & progeny produce 28.46 manure kg/animal/day
1 beef steer 34.09 manure kg/animal/day
In the City of Mesquite zoning code a maximum of 200 rabbits is allowed. In the King County WA zoning code it states: “Poultry, chickens, squab, rabbits, hamsters, nutria, and chinchillas are limited to a maximum of one animal per square foot of structure used to house such animals, up to a maximum of 2,000 square feet.”

The County of Santa Cruz //sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/planning/brochures/animalkeeping.htm permits rabbits in all districts without special approval. In R-1 Single Family Residential zoned lots of 6,000-15,000 square feet rabbits are allowed at 1 per 1,000 sq ft. On parcels of a ½ acre to 10 acres 100 rabbits are allowed. On more than 10 acres there is no limit on the number of rabbits kept.

In Clark county NV www.cbrrealty.com/zoning.html Rural open land allows a maximum of 100 rabbits while Residential Agriculturally zoned parcels allows 200 rabbits.

Hobby or Show Breeder: Individual whose primary purpose in breeding rabbits is for exhibition at organized rabbit shows, or personal food and fiber use, or to improve an existing breed or create a new breed. Herd number can vary widely from 30-500 rabbits depending on the number of different breeds raised and/or color varieties. 85-90% of breeders breed rabbits as a hobby. The majority of hobby rabbitries are exempt from USDA/APHIS licensing requirements.

Existing Law: Hobby breeder can be a person housing or breeding animals at or adjoining a private residence for the purpose of exhibiting animals at organized shows or for the purpose of improving the breed and an active member of a national, state or local breeder organization. Existing Law: Private residence shall mean a place in which a person lives that belongs to or is leased by the person and/or an immediate member of his or her family.

Commercial Breeder: Herd number can start at 500 and can easily go over 1,000 the purpose in breeding is primarily to raise rabbits for food and fiber as a business with the intent to profit. A commercial pet rabbitry involved in selling to pet stores has an average of 2,000 rabbits (based on numbers from USDA) and breed with the intent to make a profit. Commercial pet breeders or dealers are required to be licensed by the USDA.

"Backyard" Breeder: This term is often used by animal shelter workers and others in the animal rights industry and more recently to refer to someone raising rabbits in their backyard. The term usually refers to an individual who is not breeding for exhibition at organized rabbit shows or for food/fiber, to improve a breed, or as a food/fiber business. This category includes pet owners who allow accidental litters. The primary purpose in breeding is usually to produce pet rabbits for sale or fun. Beware of those who use it to describe where the breeding takes place, they often mix up terms to confuse people in order to pass legislation restricting or banning all breeding.

Pet Dealer means a person who sells, offers to sell, exchanges, or offers for adoption pets they did not produce but have bought or otherwise obtained for compensation primarily for commercial purposes. Some animal shelters are now importing animals from other countries or areas because they do not have enough animals to provide for sale to pet owners. These shelters are really no different than a commercial pet store and deserve no special treatment or exemption from laws.

What Does a Hobby Rabbitry Look Like?

The frustrating aspect of zoning limitations and prohibitions on rabbit breeding is that rabbits require very little space and are unlikely to create a nuisance to neighbors. The typical hobby rabbit breeder keeps their rabbits in a shed, barn, or garage on their residential property. Popular cage sizes for adults start around an 18”x24” cage, other sizes are 24”x30”, and 30”x36”. Many hobby breeders also stack cages two to 3 high thereby minimizing the amount of space required to raise rabbits. Rabbits do not need pasture space to graze, they do not produce a large amount of manure. Rabbits are quiet animals and rarely make any vocalizations. Simply put the rabbit and rabbit husbandry causes little impact in a neighborhood. In most cases no one knows someone is even breeding and showing rabbits unless they are told or happen to see the rabbits being moved to the vehicle on show day.

Most hobby show breeders although not interested in running a business or profiting are very serious about producing quality rabbits that improve their herd and perserve their chosen breed. Often it is simply impossible for a show breeder to run a successful breeding program with limits set at levels of 40, 25, or less.