Even minimal human contact linked to nursing reduces fear responses toward humans in rabbits

When handled around nursing time during the first week after birth, the fear response of rabbits toward humans is reduced later on. But although this might be crucial for practical application, the duration of daily treatment necessary to achieve this effect was not known so far. In the present experiment, we investigated whether even a minimal human contact, characteristic of animal caretaking in intensive rabbitries, can reduce avoidance. Newborn New Zealand rabbit pups were exposed to one of the following handling treatments in the first week of life: (1) full handling, within 0.5 h after nursing, which consisted of removing the pups of the nest and weighing them (about 5 min/litter), (2) full handling performed 2 h after nursing with a treatment similar to the previous, (3) routine check, within 0.5 h after nursing, which consisted of touching the pups by the stockperson to see whether all pups were alive (about 5 s/litter), (4) routine check, 2 h after nursing. At 28 days of age, the timidity of the pups was measured in a 5 min approach test. Pups that were handled within 0.5 h after nursing, irrespectively of the duration of handling, appeared to be tamer as they approached the experimenter's hand with a lower latency and more times then those handled later. We conclude that, in an apparent sensitive period, even minimal human contact is effective in reducing avoidance of the caretaker. Thus, handling might be a useful tool to reduce stress and improve welfare even under intensive farming conditions.