pets
Ask a vet... Dr Pauline Taylor on a cruel reality of our favourite Easter animals Dr Pauline Pets Central veterinarian With Easter upon us we are inundated with pictures of cute happy little chickens and baby rabbits. Rabbits make lovely pets and there are over 300 global breeds, from Netherland Dwarf to Flemish Giants all descended by selective breeding from the European rabbit. Chickens too are much loved as pets in many parts of the world and can become very attached to the family they live with. However, because of the demands of our food chain, billions of these animals do not have a life worth living nowadays. While you keep this sad fact in mind let me share some other points about these cute animals with you. All about chickens Chickens, like birds, were first noticed and painted on pottery around 8000 years ago in areas of SE Asia and originated from a member of the pheasant family, a bird called the red junglefowl. A male is called a rooster or cockerel and is distinguished from the female hen by its colourful plumage and head comb. Free range chickens are omnivores, pecking their food from the soil as they strut around in flocks, raising broods of young that hatch after a 21-day incubation period from multi coloured eggs. The egg colour is determined by the genetics of the hen. They are very social, inquisitive and exhibit interesting behaviour, and creatures who feel pain and distress.
All about rabbits ‘Easter bunnies’ associated with the beginning of Spring/ Easter’ are found wild all over the world except in Antarctica. Descended from the European rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula, its introduction has often had devastating effects on local biodiversity, causing problems with the environment and ecosystems. Wild rabbits live in underground burrows where females give birth after 30 days gestation, to hairless and blind young rabbits called kittens. A lot is not known about these prey animals, but some facts are. Rabbits have many predators including cats, badgers, ferrets, stoats, weasel, fox and rats, who especially go after the young. Rabbits eat a variety of grasses favouring young succulent nutritious leaves. Their ear flaps can turn almost 360 degrees to pick up threatening sounds and guard duty rabbits thump their feet to alert the family to danger when they are grazing above ground.
Got a question for Dr. Pauline? Email editorial@hongkongliving.com 32 | SOUTHSIDE
