Farmed rabbits are among the most intensively confined livestock globally, kept under conditions that severely restrict their natural behaviours and cause chronic welfare problems.
Farmed rabbit welfare is one of the most neglected issues in mainstream animal welfare advocacy, despite the enormous scale of production and the severity of welfare problems. Wire cage confinement denies rabbits the ability to perform any natural locomotory behaviour, imposes constant postural restriction, and removes all opportunities for hiding and refuge-seeking essential to prey species wellbeing. High stress, respiratory disease, and digestive disorders are endemic in conventional systems. The European Parliament has called for minimum welfare standards for farmed rabbits, but regulation remains fragmented. Consumer awareness of rabbit farming conditions is very low compared to other livestock.