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Open-ended responses referring to rabbit emotion. Statements included in the table if they were mentioned in over 3% of responses. n = 578.
Source publication
Pet rabbit welfare is a hidden crisis: Inappropriately housed, fed, and not routinely provided healthcare—rabbits can often suffer painful conditions and shortened lifespans. This study provides novel understanding of owners’ perceptions of rabbits’ mental capabilities; how this impacts their husbandry; and subsequent effects on rabbits’ welfare. A...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... was also frequently mentioned that rabbit intelligence is underestimated/misunderstood (Table 6). When elaborating on rabbit emotion, the key comments included that rabbit emotion was obvious, that rabbits express emotion through body language and behavior, that they show fear, they grieve, they show sadness, experience happiness, visibly express joy, and 'binky' (see Table 1 for behavior description) when happy ( Table 7). When referring to rabbit pain, the main elaborations included: 'rabbits have different anatomy so feel pain differently'; 'all animals feel pain as humans do'; 'you can tell behaviorally'; 'it's obvious, emotional and physical pain'; 'as fully as humans'; 'physical pain'; and 'doesn't express pain the same'. ...Similar publications
Emotional labour (EL) is a self-controlling process during which employees monitor and regulate their moods and expressions when interacting with customers. Such self-monitoring takes place through employees engaging with either deep acting (DA) or surface acting (SA) EL strategies. Although empirical evidence indicates that employees are capable o...
Citations
... The empathy felt toward animals, the attribution of empathy that the animal feels toward us, and the assignment of communication capacities with us are conditioned by their phylogenetic proximity, so it is much higher for primates, followed by other mammals (although much greater variability is observed in this group of species), assigning much higher scores to dogs and cats (Harrison & Hall, 2010). The greater the attribution of intelligence, emotions, and pain, the greater the interest in providing welfare to the animal (McMahon & Wigham, 2020). ...
Exotic animals have become popular pets, but there is little information about abandonment. Records of a network of foster homes for abandoned rabbits and rodents in Madrid (Spain) between 2008 and 2021 were analyzed. Data of 1024 animals were included, 46.4% were rabbits, 19.7% hamsters, 15.3% guinea pigs, 5.8% rats, 5.4% gerbils, 4.8% mice, and 2.6% chinchillas. Half of the animals (51.2%) were admitted with health issues, 41.3% had been abandoned, mostly in urban areas, 46.8% came from a local shelter, and 8.1% were relinquished by the owner. Only 12 animals were neutered and 8 were microchipped. The network of foster homes took care of 1009 animals (98.5%), 686 of them were adopted in an average time of 9.2 months, regardless of their health status, 15 animals died before fostering, and 323 died before adoption. Numerous rabbits and rodents are abandoned in urban areas in Madrid (Spain), very few of them are microchipped or neutered. Associations based on networks of foster homes for the adoption of abandoned rabbits and rodents can be effective, preserving animal welfare as effectively as shelters.
... Establishing pet owners' beliefs of animal boredom could be a crucial tool in improving pet welfare, because people's perceptions of animals' mental abilities and capacity to experience emotion can directly affect animal welfare. Indeed, rabbit pet owners who had increased perceptions of rabbit emotion, intelligence, and pain were more likely to house and manage rabbits in higher welfare conditions through the provision of a rabbit partner, varied environmental enrichment (additions or improvements to an animal's environment to enable greater behavioural diversity and a heightened wellbeing [13][14][15][16]), and a suitable diet and housing type [17]. Additionally, cat owners with a greater knowledge of cats' emotional and intellectual abilities were less likely to use positive punishment (applying an aversive stimulus to an animal after the performance of an undesired behaviour) to reduce future occurrences of the behaviour (as defined in [18]) when training their cats than owners with poorer knowledge [19]. ...
... The use of aversive training methods, such as punishment, can be detrimental to animals both physically and mentally [20]. McMahon and Wigham [17] suggested that improving pet owners' perceptions of the intelligence and emotional capabilities of rabbits could be a practical way of improving rabbit housing and management, and this may be the same for other species too. If pet ferret owners' perceptions of ferret boredom were found to be associated with their decisions around ferret housing, husbandry, and management, then, similar to the recommendations made by McMahon and Wigham [17] for rabbits, raising pet ferret owners' awareness of ferrets' emotional abilities could also be a useful tool in promoting higher welfare for pet ferrets. ...
... McMahon and Wigham [17] suggested that improving pet owners' perceptions of the intelligence and emotional capabilities of rabbits could be a practical way of improving rabbit housing and management, and this may be the same for other species too. If pet ferret owners' perceptions of ferret boredom were found to be associated with their decisions around ferret housing, husbandry, and management, then, similar to the recommendations made by McMahon and Wigham [17] for rabbits, raising pet ferret owners' awareness of ferrets' emotional abilities could also be a useful tool in promoting higher welfare for pet ferrets. ...
Boredom is a potential chronic but overlooked animal welfare problem. Caused by monotony, sub-optimal stimulation, and restrictive housing, boredom can therefore affect companion animals, particularly those traditionally caged, such as ferrets. We surveyed owners' (n = 621) perceptions of ferrets' capacity to experience boredom, behaviours they associate with it, and whether their perception of their ferrets' capacity for boredom influenced training techniques, housing, and environmental enrichment (EE). Most (93.0%) owners believed that ferrets could experience boredom, but owners who doubted that ferrets experience boredom (7.0%) provided slightly but significantly fewer EE types to their ferrets. Heat map and classification tree analysis showed that owners identified scratching at enclosure walls (n = 420) and excessive sleeping (n = 312) as distinctive behavioural indicators of ferret boredom. Repetitive pacing (n = 381), yawning (n = 191), and resting with eyes open (n = 171) were also suggested to indicate ferret boredom, but these overlapped with other states. Finally, ferret owners suggested social housing, tactile interaction with humans, and exploration as most important for preventing boredom. These results suggest that pet ferrets are at risk of reduced welfare from owners who doubt they can experience boredom, highlighting an opportunity to improve welfare through information dissemination. We recommend further investigation into ferret boredom capacity, behavioural indicators, and mitigation strategies.
... 29 For example, it has been used to investigate the development and assessment of interventions to address the uptake of dog training classes in deprived areas, where non-course fee-related barriers have been shown to be likely, 30 to target neutering vouchers at owners whose cats would remain entire without a voucher and assess further risk factors for non-redemption, 31 and to highlight the inequitable flow of shelter animals from more vulnerable to less vulnerable communities. 29 Recently, there has been some exploration regarding the human-animal relationship for rabbits and their welfare; for example, owners with higher rabbit pain perception scores were more likely to provide freeroaming (be that indoors or outdoors) compared to outdoor hutch housing, 32 and rabbits in low socioeconomic status areas were less likely to be vaccinated. 22 Nevertheless, there remains limited research on pet rabbits (as opposed to farmed or laboratory-focused studies) and there is scope for further research into their welfare. ...
Background
Rabbits are popular pets, but research into their welfare is limited. This study analysed the potential association(s) between the provision of suitable housing and owner demographic factors.
Methods
Data from 2017, 2018 and 2019 PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) report surveys gave a sample of 1333 UK rabbit owners. Whether the rabbit housing was adequate or inadequate was ascertained by asking owners to indicate images of hutch and run size or indoor environment type that were similar to their own. The owner demographic factors collected included gender, education, household income and deprivation. Chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression (univariable and multivariable) were used to investigate factors associated with adequate/inadequate housing.
Results
One-third (31.2%) of rabbits lived in inadequate housing and half were housed alone (51.4%). Male owners were more likely to report providing inadequate housing than females (odds ratio [OR] = 1.795, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.319–2.441, p < 0.001). Compared to owners over 55 years old, those aged 25–34 years were more likely to house their rabbits inadequately (OR = 2.050, 95% CI 1.286–3.267, p = 0.003). Owners with a household income below average were more likely to report providing inadequate housing compared to those with a household income above average (OR = 1.406, 95% CI 1.025–1.928, p = 0.035).
Conclusion
The findings identify that inadequate rabbit housing is provided by owners of all ages, genders and deprivation levels but highlight some particular owner demographics that could be useful to target if resources are limited.
... Survey-based studies are increasingly used to investigate exotic pet welfare [29][30][31]. Despite the limitations inherent to self-reporting and convenience sampling, survey data allow an exploratory approach to complex phenomena such as pet reptile welfare, where direct access to animals in private homes is challenging [30]. ...
The ability to meet the needs of each species in captivity is at the heart of the ethical debate on the acceptability of keeping reptiles and other animals as pets. Little is known about the ability of reptile owners to understand their pets’ behavior and to meet their welfare requirements. In this study, we surveyed pet reptile owners in Portugal (N = 220) to assess their behavioral knowledge and the provision of essential husbandry needs. Although two-thirds of respondents (68%) scored very good to excellent in terms of knowledge of their pet reptile’s behaviors, only 15% of respondents met four essential reptile husbandry needs (temperature, lighting, diet and refuge) and 43% met two or less. None of the respondents reported their reptile’s welfare as very poor, and only a single respondent reported it as poor. Logistic regression model showed that while snake owners had fourteen times higher odds of reporting adequate husbandry provision, lizard owners had the highest odds of reporting good or very good welfare despite providing less of their animals’ basic husbandry needs. These results suggest that many pet reptiles in Portugal live in, at best, ‘controlled deprivation’ and are at risk of suffering poor welfare throughout their captive lives. Moreover, behaviors indicative of poor welfare and captivity stress were considered ‘normal’ by up to one quarter of respondents. We suggest that the frequency of these behaviors in pet reptiles has led to their acceptance as normal, precluding the search for ways to prevent them. These results suggest that campaigns aimed at challenging the current norm for adequate reptile welfare are warranted.
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) is a highly contagious pathogen that infects wild and domestic rabbits and hares (lagomorphs). Globally, RHDV2 has resulted in substantial economic losses for commercial rabbit trade and caused wild lagomorph population declines. Previous research on RHDV2 suggests that human-mediated movement of rabbits may contribute to the spread of RHDV2. We conducted the first survey of individuals who own or interact with domestic rabbits to identify their rabbit husbandry behaviors and knowledge of, and concerns about, RHDV2. In 2021, we surveyed 1807 rabbit owners, breeders, and rescue staff in the USA. Respondents had a high level of knowledge about RHDV2. Respondents believed RHDV2 posed a high risk to rabbit-related activities and were concerned about its economic and ecological impacts. Nearly half of respondents always kept their rabbits indoors, but 10.7% of respondents allowed their rabbits outside frequently on properties used by wild lagomorphs. Respondents with five rabbits or less were generally willing to vaccinate their rabbits, but respondents with larger herds argued that vaccines were cost prohibitive. Given respondents’ concerns about RHDV2, communication about disease prevention should highlight the adverse ecological and economic consequences of RHDV2.
The unique relationship humans have with rabbits has been coined the “21st century rabbit paradox” because there are few social boundaries surrounding how rabbits are interacted with and used by humans. Though this paradoxical relationship with rabbits has been observed, there is no clear empirical picture of what it looks like. This online survey of 1,006 US adults is the first to measure the prevalence and nature of human interactions with and attitudes toward rabbits across multiple industries. This study finds that experiences with rabbits are quite often nonexistent, the types of experiences respondents have had with rabbits vary widely, and many respondents lacked opinions regarding how rabbits are used by humans. The findings provide a clear picture of just how paradoxical the human relationship with rabbits is in US society and suggests areas for future research.
