When in France, do as the French do

I have a really bad cold right now, which is really annoying since this is my first week and I can follow french conversations even less when I'm half awake and with my ears blocked with snot. 

Just have to wait it out I guess. 

Yesterday, my supervisor Laurianne was at a conferance in Paris so I was alone in the office. I prepared the first version of the schedule that we are going to follow during the rabbit observations, the many different sheets where the observations will be noted and I sneezed at least a hundred times. Per hour.

Today, we had a meeting with the boss and the staff of the rabbit farm. We discussed my schedule, my sheets and came to a lot of agreements before we headed out to the rabbits. I have to admit I feared a little for this moment. I know visiting the joyful rabbit heaven on Ekerö before going to France was not my most intelligent move. After my many animal welfare courses, I know very well what to expect from this kind of French rabbit production. Cages are small, floors are aversive plastic/metal ones, no environmental enrichment what so ever, and it just looks sad. However, I cannot really do anything other than accept how they choose to carry out their production, when in Rome as they say... What I can do however (and certainly will do) is to not buy anything other then ecological meat (at the very least when in France!) and I will most definately continue to buy Swedish, good meat, brought to my plate in a healthy and fair way when in Sweden.

So, with that said, I looked around in the "girls" cages, all filled with does with little rabbit pups (as you can see on some pictures), and it was time for their nests to take place. The nest building normally occurs within the last week of their gestation. So, me and Claude, set out the nest boxes and filled them with sawdust. Immediately after opening the hatches to the nests, the does jumped in, curled up, scracthed and played with the sawdust. When you see the happiness that a little sawdust brings to these animals, my animal welfare bell rings oud and clear. But as previously said; when in Rome, when in Rome, when in Rome...    

Tomorrow: office day!

Friday: rabbit day! Fear test will be performed (where I will walk up to all cages, one by one, in a red sweater and observe the reactions of the does) and I will then observe the nests that the does presumably will have built. After that, I hope I'm healthy enough to go to the gym with my new gym card that starts being valid on friday before heading to Toulouse city centre to eat with the INRA people.    

Good night!

A very pregnant little doe.
Rabbits have very beautiful eyes that look a lot like human eyes in close up. 

The nest boxes that we added, the hatch to it is shut during preparation.

And as soon as we opened the hatches, the ladies almost flew in there.