Comedian Ricky Gervais joined thousands of campaigners calling to scrap the plans for a rabbit meat farm in Coleshill (near Amersham), Buckinghamshire, UK. Together, they won the battle and saved 30,000 bunnies from being slaughtered annually for their flesh and fur.
Animal lover Gervais, star of After Life and The Office, said:
Britain doesn’t need rabbit meat and fur farms; we don’t need to find new ways to exploit animals for our stomachs or our wardrobes. If these plans go ahead, it will mean thousands of baby rabbits bred and taken from hundreds of mother rabbits who are treated like breeding machines.
Buckinghamshire Council planning chiefs refused the plan for the T&S Nurseries farm, which involved 750 rabbits for breeding and land for three ranches where they and their baby bunnies would be kept. Each ranch would have had 250 does capable of breeding around 10,000 animals per year. Thanks to Gervais’ campaign, over 87,000 people signed a petition in opposition that led to the council’s refusal.
PETA director Elisa Allen said:
PETA commends the council’s compassionate decision. This monstrous rabbit prison would see hundreds of female rabbits routinely forced to breed to produce around 10,000 babies per year. These sensitive, playful animals would endure a life of extreme confinement before being killed for their flesh and fur.
Tens of thousands of compassionate people have spoken – they want nothing to do with factory farms that, aside from being hideously CRUEL TO ANIMALS, also harm public health by facilitating the spread of bacteria that can lead to deadly diseases like Covid-19, SARS, and MERS. Vegan living is easier and more enjoyable than ever – it’s time to make the change, for the sake of both humans and other animals.
T&S has “free-range” ranches with outdoor grazing and hutches to sedate public outcry at Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire already.
T&S owner Phil Kerry said:
The welfare of animals is a priority. Fur is secondary to meat production – we don’t slaughter animals for pelts; that would be illegal. We used to throw pelts away, but it doesn’t make financial sense as they have value, and it shows honor to the animal to use every part. I know there’s opposition, but, in my view, it’s hollow and doesn’t mean much.
Now the company has applications lodged with Bucks, Cornwall, and Rutland councils for “temporary workers’ dwellings,” housing for future staff of the proposed rabbit farms. The Cornwall site has been refused permission, but the decision on the Rutland site is yet unknown.
The Buckinghamshire site council planning officers said upon refusal:
The applicant has not presented a good case to establish why the business must be located on this land and why they did not choose a more suitable, less-constrained site. Alternatively, it has not been demonstrated that there is a demand for this proposal in this location. Notwithstanding the economic benefits of the scheme, these are not considered to outweigh the harm identified.
Gervais also backs Humane Society International’s #FurFreeBritain campaign, calling for a total ban on the fur trade in the country.
