Resumen de Rabbit health: Misconceptions regarding rabbit behaviour
TONIC immobility (also referred to as ‘trancing’ and being ‘hypnotised’ [Varga 2013]) has been noted in rabbits, by Buseth and Saunders (2015), as ‘a condition certain prey have acquired to escape enemies. It is a defence mechanism rabbits habitually revert to when they have no other options of escape. The rabbit will play dead; so that the predator loses interest and lets the prey go.’ It has been previously found that tonic immobility induced in rabbits can be stressful to them. For example, McBride and others (2006) studied six rabbits, by placing them in the tonic immobility position, resulting in behavioural and physiological changes indicative of stress. However, it appears to be a common misconception among rabbit owners that a rabbit in a state of tonic immobility might be relaxed (Buseth and Saunders 2015). As a result, the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (RWAF) advises rabbit owners not to trance or hypnotise their rabbits (RWAF 2015). However, it has been noted that tonic immobility is frequently used and admissible in a variety of veterinary procedures (eg, radiographs) as it avoids the need for anaesthesia (Varga 2013)....
