Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The domesticated rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus var. Domestica) is kept by humans for various reasons. This study focused on domesticated rabbits for companionship and hobby, which is commonly found in European countries such as England, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. In Sweden the keeping of these rabbits are regulated by species-specific animal welfare legislation, and during the spring of 2025 a proposal with new requirements were suggested by the responsible authority. However, this proposal regarding hobby and pet rabbits received a lot of criticism and was withdrawn. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Swedish animal owners keep their hobby and pet rabbits. Another purpose was to investigate what knowledge and opinions rabbit owners had about the proposal with new requirements. A questionnaire was created and distributed on Facebook. There were 436 rabbit owners who answered the survey, and the results suggested that it was a variation in how the rabbits were kept. It was most common that the rabbits were kept inside, free-range or in a room/limited space, and the majority were kept in pairs. Many of the rabbit owners kept their rabbits in large spaces and the result was similar for both inside and outside. Most of the rabbit owners offered various interior designs and enrichments which gave the rabbits access to bedding materials, hiding opportunities, digging opportunities, viewing opportunities and extra activation. When it comes to the legislation proposal, most of the rabbit owners had knowledge and opinions about it. There was a majority that thought the proposal was good or partly good, which is an interesting result when compared to the criticism that the proposal has received.