Farmed rabbits are among the least regulated farm animals in the world despite being produced by the millions in intensive caged systems that cause severe welfare deficits.
Farmed rabbits occupy a regulatory blind spot: highly social, cognitively active animals in some of the most barren captive environments in European agriculture. Wire battery cages prevent all natural behaviours — burrowing, running, social grooming, gnawing — and cause physical harm through foot sores and fur loss. The regulatory gap reflects the fact that rabbit meat lacks the political visibility of pork or poultry. Animal welfare organisations have worked to change this, and consumer pressure is beginning to drive some producers toward enriched or park systems. But progress is far slower than the welfare evidence warrants.