Germans eat 41,000 tonnes of rabbit meat per year
Hanover, Germany (dpa) - More then 41,000 tonnes of rabbit meat is consumed in Germany every year, with two-thirds of that figure eaten at Easter, according to figures from the rabbit meat production industry released Friday.
Unlike meat production for other animals, very few Germans seem to have concerns about the conditions in which rabbits bred for their meat are kept, animal rights organisations have said. Many consumers are simply not aware of the production conditions, unlike the controversy generated by the industrial farming of pigs, turkeys of chickens, on which animal rights organisations and some politicians have campaigned.
Groups like PETA in Germany and Vier Pfoten, which translates as Four Paws, report that rabbits bred for their meat are often kept in small cages like battery hens, which is difficult for a social animal like a rabbit. They also question the welfare standards of meat imported from China and Eastern Europe.
