LETTER TO THE NEW PAPER
16 Sep 2002

RE: "Meet the Rabbit King" TNP 15th September 2002

The feature article in The New Paper of 15th July 2002 discussed how a Singaporean entrepreneur has made it big in China by rearing rabbits for fur. However, it does not shed light on the suffering, brutality, and death involved in this industry.

The House Rabbit Society of Singapore (HRSS) opposes the use of all kinds of fur. We believe that the suffering and death of animals cannot be justified to supply such a trade.

Rabbits, minks, chinchillas, and other animals in fur farms, spend their entire lives confined to tiny, filthy cages, constantly circling and pacing back and forth from stress and boredom. Rabbits and other species are generally kept in stacked cages only 1 foot by 3 feet. Most of these animals have been bred for qualities like fur color and texture. The result is a gruesome array of genetic defects - deafness, blindness, internal bleeding, and deformed sex organs.

In many developing countries, like China, there are no regulations on how animals are destroyed. Most breeders don't care about how animals are slaughtered, as long as the process is cheap and doesn't damage the fur. In fact, on many farms, workers wearing heavy gloves simply rip off the animals' heads. There is no regard for the fact that they are living, feeling creatures with a right to live their lives free of torture and murder, or even to die a humane death!

In your article, Mr. Choo implies that as long as fur is a 'by-product' of the meat trade, its use is acceptable. But one must consider the suffering of the animals whatever the purpose of that suffering. The use of rabbit fur also promotes the general use of real fur. The fur trade kills 40 million animals a year worldwide, breeding them in barren cages where they go mad and mutilate themselves. By buying rabbit fur products, these are the acts that people are paying for and in fact encouraging.

In this day and age of beautiful and useful synthetics, there is no reason to use the fur of animals to keep warm. It is not a fashion statement for people to wear another creature's skin. A true appreciation of the beauty of an animal's fur would be imitation. How shameful that animals are now killed unnecessarily, and how disgraceful that they are additionally brutalized and tortured.

Rabbits are intelligent, social animals that enjoy interacting with people. Their gentle, loving nature makes them the third most common pet in Singapore. If we are to become a caring society, we must discourage the use of all fur - including fur trim, fur decorations, and fur toys - be it from a cat, dog, rabbit, coyote, fox, or any unfortunate animal.

We urge all Singaporeans to boycott the use of fur.