A draft Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Rabbits is now available for public comment. The draft code was developed by the National Farm Animal Care Council and provincial rabbit groups based on a number of priority welfare issues.

These included areas such as pen and cage design; housing enrichments; recognizing abnormal behaviour, sickness, pain and fearfulness; tools to measure stress; and management practices that decrease stress.

The draft code can be found at www.nfacc.ca.

Comments must be submitted online prior to April 1.