Rabbits are farmed for meat primarily in southern Europe and Asia. Standard commercial systems raise serious welfare concerns that have driven legislative action and alternative system development.
Farmed rabbit welfare occupies an uncomfortable position in EU farm animal welfare policy: a species whose welfare needs are well-understood and clearly unmet by standard commercial systems, but which has received far less regulatory attention than pigs, poultry or cattle. The evidence that wire cages deny rabbits their fundamental behavioural needs is unambiguous; the political will to act has been slow to develop. Consumer awareness of farmed rabbit welfare is lower than for most other farmed species, partly because rabbit meat is less culturally prominent in northern European markets. The welfare trajectory is slowly improving through voluntary retailer standards, producer investment in enriched systems, and legislative pressure at national level in some European countries.