Rabbits are the fourth most farmed species in Europe, yet welfare standards remain poor in conventional cage systems that deny them fundamental behavioral needs.
Battery-caged rabbits experience chronic physical and psychological deprivation. Wire floors cause hock sores and prevent normal resting postures. Rabbits cannot perform running, jumping, or exploration behaviors essential for their welfare. Social isolation in individual cages frustrates their gregarious nature. Colony housing with hiding places, platforms, and gnawing material dramatically improves welfare indicators, but transition requires investment and management expertise that smaller producers may lack.