Handling effects on body weight and behaviour of group-housed male rabbits in a laboratory setting (2009)

Verwer, C. M., van Amerongen, G., van den Bos, R. et al.

Abstract

To assess the rabbit's coping strategy we performed a tonic immobility test, human-approach test, open-field test and a novel-object test. The results are that handling has no effect on body weight during the experimental period. Handling led to a more social and stable hierarchy among rabbits. Handled animals are less sensitive to tonic immobility, approached and made contact with the novel object and test-person's hand more often and longer, and moved around more freely in the open field than non-handled rabbits. This suggests that handled animals are proactive copers, while non-handled animals are reactive copers. However, in the second tonic immobility test handling depressed the tonic immobility response to such a level that nearly all handled animals did not react in a pro- or reactive manner at all.Altogether we provide evidence that handling pups form birth onwards, independent of nursing time, can be very effective in providing tame, less emotional and more cooperative animals.