Rabbit farming produces over one million tonnes of meat annually, primarily in Europe and China. Welfare conditions in rabbit farming are among the least regulated in animal agriculture.
Farmed rabbits in conventional systems live in wire-floored cages that cause chronic foot sores, cannot perform essential behaviors like leaping and running, and have no social structure compatible with their natural group living. Reproductive females are kept in near-continuous pregnancy cycles that cause physical exhaustion. Weaning stress and housing changes contribute to disease in young rabbits that is managed with antibiotics rather than welfare improvements. The sector has historically received less welfare campaign attention than pigs or chickens despite comparable suffering.