Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Australia - Rabbit abattoir closes

14 May 2010 meattradenewsdaily.co.uk 

A rabbit abattoir near Cowra is being forced to shut due to rising electricity and insurance costs.  

Bumbaldry Rabbits processes 60 farmed rabbits each week and supplies local restaurants. Its closure will mean there is only one abattoir licensed to process the animal in central west New South Wales.  

The owner of the Hilston facility, Steve Johnson, says farmed becoming increasingly non-viable. "There is no future in farmed rabbits in Australia. There's a number of reasons for that. There's not one feed company in Australia, I'm talking meals, that process feed, there is not one in Australia that can make a pellet to feed rabbits on and then for the labour involved in it, it's just not a viable proposition," he said. 

Central west restaurants will also have to find a new rabbit supplier. Local chef Simon Hawke says while there are alternative suppliers, it is great to be able to support local businesses. "We haven't really had much of an issue. We prefer to use locally obviously, because it's nicer for people to experience the local product," he said.

AU: One Rabbit Farm in Victoria Closes

June 8, 2013 published in The Australian

Glen McMeill, a rabbit farmer who used $250,000 in GIF money to commercialise his processing of wild rabbits, exceeded his jobs target by putting on 22 new people including 14 trainees.

Earlier this year his business closed, of what he euphemistically called “unforseen circumstances” –a campaign by animal rights activists in which his Geelong processing plant was ransacked and expensive equipment destroyed.

Just two years earlier: Rabbits hop on to the menu on Melbourne’s top restaurants 

July 3, 2011 Heraldsun.com.au excerpt

Trendy rabbit dishes have become big business for Geelong’s specialist rabbit processor, Glen McNeill, who runs an abattoir in North Shore. His output has doubled since gaining a licence eight months ago to process wild rabbits. Before then, his focus was on the farmed variety, supplied by a small but growing number of farmers looking to diversify from my more traditional areas.   

His business, Quality Australian Farmed Rabbit, is strictly regulated by meat inspectors to weed out a small number of rabbits infected with calicivirus and myxomatosis, introduced by the Federal Government, to reduce rabbit numbers.