Burning bunnies helps keep Swedes warm and cozy
 

 Animal Rights Sweden spokeswoman Lise-Lott Alsenius questioned whether 
the practice was humane or ethical and suggested neutering the male 
rabbits as an alternative method of holding down the population.


Forget bunny boiling jealous rages and rapacious butchers. The biggest 
threats to Peter Rabbit's Swedish cousins are the cold, the cull and 
their flammable cadavers.

The city of Stockholm shoots thousands of wild rabbits spread across 
the green spaces of the Swedish capital and sends their bodies to be 
burned as heating fuel, a practice which has enraged animal rights 
groups.

City official Mats Freij said Stockholm killed 6,000 wild rabbits last 
year and has culled 3,000 so far this year, but said a subcontractor 
decided to use the cadavers as fuel.

"One should put this in the perspective that we (humans) are actually 
cremated ourselves and that generates a completely different reaction," 
Freij said in response to criticism.

Animal Rights Sweden spokeswoman Lise-Lott Alsenius questioned whether 
the practice was humane or ethical and suggested neutering the male 
rabbits as an alternative method of holding down the population.

"One at least has to evaluate what the alternatives are to just simply 
shooting them," she said.

Konvex, the company handling the operation, said the rabbits were 
ground up with the cadavers of other beasts, mainly farm animals such 
as cows which have been deemed unfit for human consumption, reduced to 
flammable form and incinerated.

"Just as with us people ... the bodies contain a lot of fat and fat has 
exactly the same energy content as normal heating oil for instance," 
Konvex Chief Executive Leo Virta said.