Rabbits

©  2009  Rose George

I have written plenty about Biogasmax, an EU-wide biogas project. Today I learned about Biomal, another EU-wide initiative which aims for “a new concept for a safe, environmental advantageous, economical sustainable, and energy effective system for handling animal by-products in Europe.” Apparently, this means burning bunnies. Stockholm apparently has an excess of wild rabbits (pet rabbit offspring that has gone wild). The rabbits have no natural predators, say authorities (I don’t get that: don’t foxes eat anything?) so must be hunted. After they are hunted, they’re frozen then burned to generate heat which is used to heat homes. I had to check the date, but it seems to be true. I’d rather have sewage heat than dead rabbit heat. Little chance of either in Leeds, where I live, where the city authorities can’t even persuade the bin-men (that’s garbage collectors to Americans) to stop their six-week-and-counting strike.