Rough for Rabbits

A recent study has suggested that many UK-based rabbit pets (rather than being simple animals to keep) actually suffer from a combination of poor housing, inadequate diets and parasite infections (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/domestic-rabbits-plagued-by-diseases-and-poor-diets-study-finds). I have commented previously on the need for caging to be sufficiently long to accommodate the animal's saltatory (jumping) mode of locomotion but was a bit concerned by the bald statement that rabbits should not be housed in isolation. Oryctolagus cuniculus is clearly a social animal and females can safely be housed in groups. There are, however, problems with other combinations. Housing intact males with females provides opportunities for rabbits to express their fabled reproductive capacity. Whereas housing male (buck) rabbits together can result in very damaging fighting unless the partners are castrated.