Local hotpot restaurant continues sale of rabbit meat dishes despite social media outcry

A local hotpot restaurant has found itself in hot water after announcing two new additions to their menu made of an exotic protein not commonly available in Singapore — rabbit.

Located along Lorong Telok in Clarke Quay, Tong Xin Ru Yi introduced their new diced rabbit in chilli oil ($16) and rabbit hotpot ($68) dishes in a Facebook post that has since been removed.

"We are happy to announce that we are the first and only one to release rabbit hot pot in Singapore," the post had stated.

Suffice to say, the controversial move encountered much backlash from animal-lovers, many of whom lambasted the decision.

Others made the point that consuming rabbit is a personal choice and that the restaurant is not the first in Singapore to be serving rabbit meat. 

A report by Lianhe Zaobao on Friday (Dec 6) found that reactions to rabbit meat being served in Singapore has been mixed, with some willing to give it a try and others adamant that they will not taste it.

According to the same report, the owner, Mr Zhang, had bought 600kg of frozen rabbit in November with the intention of serving rabbit meat dishes for Sichuan natives living in Singapore.

Rabbit meat is on the list of meat products allowed to be imported into Singapore and Mr Zhang has applied for a license to legally do so.

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He also shared that the response from Sichuan customers to the new items have been good with an average of 20kg of frozen rabbit meat being sold at the restaurant each day.

So far, only 20 per cent of those who have tried the rabbit dishes are Singaporean, and Mr Zhang believes it's because Singaporeans are not used to the taste.

Rabbit welfare groups on Facebook such as Bunny Wonderland and House Rabbit Society Singapore have since circulated a Change.org petition requesting that the restaurant remove the rabbit-meat dishes from their menu.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/BunnyWonderlandSg/posts/1261072767409508[/embed]

"Both organisations have been tirelesly (sic) rescuing abandoned rabbits in Singapore and working with rabbit lovers to improve their welfare. For this restaurant to encourage the consumption of our pets, it's totally against all that we have worked hard to achieve.

"Singapore do (sic) not farmed (sic) rabbits for food and instead, we import them into our country as domesticated pets. As pets, they should be viewed in the same light as other companion animals and given the same respect as a cat and dog would," a part of the statement reads.

The petition has received over 7,500 signatures so far. 

Separately, a Facebook poll conducted by Chinese news portal RedAnts found that only 32 per cent of the 580 participants were willing to give rabbit meat a try.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/RedAnts.SG/posts/960909790946096[/embed]

When contacted by AsiaOne, the restaurant confirmed that the rabbit meat dishes are still available on the menu.

joeylee@asiaone.com