The association Arch Hunting commented on the decision to transform the rabbit in pet. Here is the press release regarding the articles of the last few days: “We propose this article by Republic which fears the end of cunicultura for food purposes, due to the passage of the rabbit among pets. We continue to see it better on the table than in the living room, perhaps together with a side of potatoes ". In this regard, Repubblica has published a piece: “Over the last five years 60 out of 100 rabbit farms have closed their doors.
A crisis mainly due to the changing attitude of the consumer towards animals in other parts of Europe kept at home as if they were dogs or cats. The theme was at the center of a meeting of Confagricoltura Treviso with the new bishop, Michele Tomasi, regional president of the organization Lodovico Giustiniani, dedicated to animal welfare. “Many are closing the farms of rabbits - said Giustiniani - which are increasingly seen as pets. In fact, for many years we have been paying great attention to animal welfare, but those who live in the urban reality have less and less in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of the countryside ”.
For Cristiano Diotto, president of Confagricoltura Treviso cunicoltori, the decline in consumption of rabbit meat however, it is only partly due to increased animal rights awareness. “We are talking about a niche sector - he explains - aimed at an animal that is not easy to breed and requires significant investments. Therefore an activity that has been gradually abandoned in favor of more profitable agricultural activities ”. In Italy, the fashion for the rabbit as a pet spread in the early 2000s, but without ever seeing it excluded from the plate. In the 80s in the USA it was already adopted as a pet: it dates back to 1988 the House Rabbit Society, the association founded in California considered a model for all fans ”.