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.